Sigfox

Last updated
Sigfox S.A.
Native name
SIGFOX
Company type Société Anonyme
IndustryWireless services
Founded2010
FoundersLudovic Le Moan and Christophe Fourtet
Headquarters Labège,
near Toulouse
,
Area served
Global
Key people
Ludovic le Moan, CEO; Anne Lauvergeon, Chairman; Christophe Fourtet, Scientific Director
ServicesIoT
Revenue€50 million [1] (2017)
Number of employees
375 (04/2017)
Website www.sigfox.com

Sigfox is a French global network operator founded in 2010 [2] that built wireless networks to connect low-power objects such as electricity meters and smartwatches, which need to be continuously on and emitting small amounts of data.

Contents

Sigfox is based in Labège near Toulouse, France, and had over 375 employees. The firm also has offices in Madrid, San Francisco, Sydney and Paris. [3] [4]

Sigfox had raised more than $300 million from investors that included Salesforce, Intel, Samsung, NTT, SK Telecom, energy groups Total and Air Liquide. In November 2016 Sigfox was valued at around €600 million. In January 2022 it filed for bankruptcy. [5]

In April 2022 Singapore-based IoT network firm Unabiz subsequently acquired Sigfox and its French network operations for a reported €25 million ($27m). [6]

Technology

Sigfox employs differential binary phase-shift keying (DBPSK) and Gaussian frequency shift keying (GFSK) over the Short-range device band of 868 MHz in Europe, and the Industrial, Scientific and Medical radio band of 902 MHz in the US. It utilizes a wide-reaching signal that passes freely through solid objects, called "Ultra Narrowband" and requires little energy, being termed a "low-power wide-area network" (LPWAN). The network is based on one-hop star topology and requires a mobile operator to carry the generated traffic. [7] The signal can also be used to easily cover large areas and to reach underground objects. [8] As of November 2020, the Sigfox IoT network has covered a total of 5.8 million square kilometers in a total of 72 countries with 1.3 billion of the world population reached. [9]

Sigfox has partnered with a number of firms in the LPWAN industry such as Texas Instruments, Silicon Labs and ON Semiconductor. The ISM radio bands support limited bidirectional communication. The existing standard for Sigfox communications supports up to 140 uplink messages a day, each of which can carry a payload of 12 octets at a data rate of up to 100 bits per second. [10]

Coverage

Global coverage of Sigfox network
ContinentCountryProvider
AfricaKenya Liquid Telecom
AfricaMauritiusio connect
AfricaMayotteio connect
AfricaRéunionio connect
AfricaSouth Africa Sqwidnet
AfricaTunisiaIoT Tunisia
AsiaHong Kong Thinxtra
AsiaIran Parsnet
AsiaJapan Kyocera
AsiaMalaysiaXperanti
AsiaOman Momkin
AsiaSingapore UnaBiz
AsiaSouth Korea Amotech
AsiaTaiwanUnaBiz
AsiaThailandThings on Net
AsiaUnited Arab EmiratesiWire
EuropeAustriaHeliot IoT
EuropeBelgiumCitymesh
EuropeCroatiaIoT Net
EuropeCzech Republic SimpleCell Networks
EuropeDenmarkIoT Denmark A/S
EuropeEstonia Connected Baltics
EuropeFinland Connected Finland
EuropeFranceSigfox
EuropeGermanySigfox
EuropeHungary Omnicell IoTnet
EuropeIrelandVT
EuropeItalyNetTrotter
EuropeLiechtensteinHeliot IoT
EuropeLuxembourgRMS
EuropeMaltaIoT Malta
EuropeNetherlandsHyrde
EuropeNorwayIoT Norway
EuropePoland Sigfox Poland
EuropePortugalSigfox
EuropeRomaniaSimple IoT
EuropeSlovakiaSimpleCell Networks
EuropeSpainSigfox
EuropeSwedenIoT Sweden
EuropeSwitzerlandHeliot IoT
EuropeTurkey UNA IoT
EuropeUkraineUtilix.one
EuropeUnited Kingdom WND Group
North AmericaCosta RicaWND Group
North AmericaEl SalvadorWND Group
North AmericaGuadeloupe IDEO Caraïbes
North AmericaMartiniqueIDEO Caraïbes
North AmericaMexicoWND Group
North AmericaPanamaWND Group
North AmericaUnited StatesSigfox
OceaniaAustraliaThinxtra
OceaniaFrench PolynesiaVITI
OceaniaNew CaledoniaiSMAC-NC
OceaniaNew ZealandThinxtra
South AmericaArgentinaWND Group
South AmericaBrazilWND Group
South AmericaChileWND Group
South AmericaColombiaWND Group
South AmericaEcuadorWND Group
South AmericaFrench GuianaIDEO Caraïbes

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References

  1. "Sigfox presents 2017 results and 2018 roadmap". Sigfox. 14 February 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  2. "Our Story | Sigfox". Sigfox. 2020.
  3. "Residents". Partech Shaker. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  4. Renault, Enguérand (2014-07-09). "Le Shaker, une fabrique à start-up, s'installe au cœur de Paris". Le Figaro. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  5. "Sigfox, the French IoT startup that had raised more than $300M, files for bankruptcy protection as it seeks a buyer". Techcrunch.com. Techcrunch. 27 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  6. "Sigfox's parent company UnaBiz raises another $25 million in Series B round extension". datacenterdynamics.com. datacenterdynamics. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  7. Giedre Dregvaite; Robertas Damasevicius (30 October 2016). Information and Software Technologies: 22nd International Conference, ICIST 2016, Druskininkai, Lithuania, October 13-15, 2016, Proceedings. Springer. pp. 665–. ISBN   978-3-319-46254-7.
  8. Khaldoun Al Agha; Guy Pujolle; Tara Ali Yahiya (17 August 2016). Mobile and Wireless Networks. Wiley. pp. 241–. ISBN   978-1-119-00755-5.
  9. "Our Story | Sigfox". Sigfox. 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  10. Augustin, Aloÿs; Yi, Jiazi; Clausen, Thomas; Townsley, William Mark (2016-09-09). Kim, Dongkyun (ed.). "A Study of LoRa: Long Range & Low Power Networks for the Internet of Things". Sensors. 16 (9): 2–3. Bibcode:2016Senso..16.1466A. doi: 10.3390/s16091466 . PMC   5038744 . PMID   27618064.