Mexico City, with a population of 21 million, offers one of the world's largest markets for smart-city applications, which Machina Research says will account for a third of all low-power, long-distance (LPWA) connections in the country. The partners expect full city coverage by the end of 2016, with nationwide service availability shortly thereafter.
IoTNet Mexico, the exclusive operator of the SIGFOX network (SNO) in the country, will initially also focus on applications for public services such as remote measurement of domestic water, gas and electricity.
“As part of a group providing public services to most Mexican companies and developing the country’s first metering-as-a-service platform, we conducted a comprehensive comparison of available LPWA and cellular technologies and concluded that SIGFOX was superior in terms of simplicity, hardware vendor selection, and ecosystem support,” says Daniel Guevara, CEO of IoTNet Mexico. “But beyond all that, we chose them for their innovative business model and versatile global ecosystem that helps SNOs and their customers rapidly implement IoT.”
The rapidly growing SIGFOX network, present on every continent, provides simple, secure, energy-efficient, and cost-effective connectivity for devices that transmit small messages to the cloud. Its dedicated solution is tailored for smart cities and buildings, asset tracking, remote monitoring, utility metering, and many other applications that will comprise the vast majority of IoT use cases. With its unique offering, SIGFOX enables companies to add new services alongside their products, thereby creating new business models and generating additional revenue.
As SIGFOX accelerates its rollout in Latin America, which began in Brazil in April, Mexico becomes the 21st country to deploy the network. With these two countries alone, SIGFOX will be able to cover 53% of Latin American territory and 56% of its population.
IoTNet Mexico has partnered with WND to provide SIGFOX connectivity throughout Mexico. WND, founded by Chris Bataillard, founder and active entrepreneur, investor, and advisor to several technology and telecommunications companies, began its expansion into Latin America with Brazil just two months ago.
“The SIGFOX network will help unlock the promise of the Internet of Things across Mexico because it is simple, fast, and affordable for connecting millions of devices that share their data across multiple applications,” explains Bataillard. “By deploying the SIGFOX network in Mexico with IoTNet Mexico, we are substantially increasing the level of deployment in the region to further reduce the costs of bringing the network to cities and companies committed to offering value-added IoT services in the area.”
“This partnership with IoTNet Mexico continues our rapid network rollout in Latin America and adds another key country to our secure global network,” said Rodolphe Baronnet-Frugès, Executive Vice President of Networks and Operators at SIGFOX. “With the addition of Mexico, SIGFOX and its network of partner operators are now deploying the SIGFOX network in countries with a total population of one billion people, and currently, one-third of this population already has effective coverage.”
