Sigfox announces IoT network in Mexico City

Proprietary IoT connectivity provider Sigfox has announced the extension of its network technology to Mexico City, as part of a broader drive into Latin America.

The Mexican roll-out is being done in partnership with WND, the company launched to extend Sigfox’s network across Latin America, and IotNet Mexico, an IoT operator that seems to also be affiliated to Sigfox. The partners expect city-wide coverage by the end of 2016 and nationwide service availability shortly thereafter, with the initial focus being on smart city uses such as utilities metering.

“As part of a group that is providing utility services to major Mexican companies and is deploying the first metering-as-a-service in the country, we made an extensive comparison of the available LPWA and cellular technologies and concluded Sigfox was superior in simplicity, choice of hardware vendors and ecosystem support,” said Daniel Guevara, CEO of IotNet Mexico. “But more than that, we chose them for their disruptive business model and their versatile global ecosystem that helps SNOs and their customers quickly implement the IoT.”

“The SIGFOX network will help unlock the promise of the Internet of Things across Mexico, because it is simple, fast and affordable to connect millions of devices that will share their data over multiple applications,” said WND founder Chris Bataillard. “By deploying the Sigfox network in Mexico with IotNet Mexico, we are substantially increasing the scale of the deployments in the region to reduce even further the costs of bringing this network to cities and businesses who are committed to delivering value added IoT services in Latin America.”

“This partnership with IotNet Mexico continues our rapid network deployment in Latin America and adds another key country to our global seamless network,” said Rodolphe Baronnet-Frugès, Sigfox EVP of networks and operators. “With the addition of Mexico, Sigfox and its network operator partners are currently deploying the Sigfox network in countries totaling one billion people, with one third of this population under effective coverage today.”

Mexico is apparently the 21st country to host a Sigfox IoT network. The first Latin American country was Brazil back in April and the company has also made a strategic move in the US this year. Sigfox is hoping to top 30 countries by the end of this year.