The alliance is a strategic bet to exploit this rapidly growing market, which represents 6% of total revenues that are expected to reach USD 3 trillion in 2025. In addition, major Japanese corporations are making large investments in the IoT sector, making Japan one of the largest contributors to the international IoT ecosystem (Japan Times[2]).
 
KCCS, operator of the Sigfox network in Japan and a subsidiary of Kyocera Corporation —one of the world's leading suppliers of printers, photocopiers, mobile phones, solar power generation systems, electronic components, semiconductor packages, cutting tools and industrial ceramics— will deploy the Sigfox network nationwide and distribute the service to its customers.
 
The Sigfox connectivity service now covers 25 countries. This initiative marks a new milestone in Sigfox's rapid expansion in the Asia Pacific region, following deployments in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan earlier this year.
 
The deployment of the Sigfox network in Japan will cover the entire mainland territory in 2018, starting with Tokyo in early 2017.
         
KCCS will focus on applications across all vertical markets, with a particular emphasis on utilities, infrastructure, healthcare, logistics, agriculture, and manufacturing industries.
 
Global scalability, cost, and energy consumption have been the three major barriers to the mass adoption of IoT. Sigfox entered the global IoT market to overcome these barriers. Instead of relying on existing technologies, Sigfox has taken a unique approach. The company is deploying the world's first IoT network to give voice to billions of objects broadcasting data, without the need to establish and maintain network connections. This innovative shift, which will dramatically reduce costs and energy consumption, will accelerate the large-scale deployment of IoT.
 
Rodolphe Baronnet-Frugès, Executive Vice President of Networks and Operators at Sigfox, commented: “We are proud to begin this collaboration with KCCS to fully leverage the enormous potential of Japanese society and corporations. I am confident that Japanese solutions, powered by Sigfox, will help meet the challenge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”.
 
Roswell Wolff, president of Sigfox Asia Pacific, said: “As the world’s third largest IoT market, Japan is strategic for Sigfox, both for its importance as a connected market in itself and as a key contributor in the development of smart connected devices that drive the growth of the Internet of Things around the world.
 
“We anticipate exponential growth in demand to connect millions of devices through a simple, cost-effective, low-power, long-range network. We look forward to establishing a strong partnership with KCCS to foster the expansion of the Japanese IoT market.”.
 
Yoshihito Kurose, President of KYOCERA Communication Systems Co., Ltd., stated: “I am delighted with our partnership with Sigfox to deploy its network in Japan. There are numerous examples of Sigfox's use cases in the international market from which we can learn. KYOCERA Communication Systems Co., Ltd., KCCS, will deploy the Sigfox network in Japan, as well as create various applications and contribute to the global success of the Sigfox network.”.

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