Sigfox

Sigfox S.A.
Native name
SIGFOX
Company typeSociété Anonyme
IndustryWireless services
Founded2010
FoundersLudovic Le Moan and Christophe Fourtet
HeadquartersLabège, ,
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)
Websitewww.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.

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

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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

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Global coverage of Sigfox network
Continent Country Provider
Africa Kenya Liquid Telecom
Africa Mauritius io connect
Africa Mayotte io connect
Africa Réunion io connect
Africa South Africa Sigfox South Africa
Africa Tunisia IoT Tunisia
Asia Hong Kong Thinxtra
Asia Iran Parsnet
Asia Japan Kyocera
Asia Malaysia Xperanti
Asia Oman Momkin
Asia Singapore UnaBiz
Asia South Korea Amotech
Asia Taiwan UnaBiz
Asia Thailand Things on Net
Asia United Arab Emirates iWire
Europe Austria Heliot IoT
Europe Belgium Citymesh
Europe Croatia IoT Net
Europe Czech Republic SimpleCell Networks
Europe Denmark IoT Denmark A/S
Europe Estonia Connected Baltics
Europe Finland Connected Finland
Europe France Sigfox
Europe Germany Sigfox
Europe Hungary Omnicell IoTnet
Europe Ireland VT
Europe Italy NetTrotter
Europe Liechtenstein Heliot IoT
Europe Luxembourg RMS
Europe Malta IoT Malta
Europe Netherlands Hyrde
Europe Norway IoT Norway
Europe Poland Sigfox Poland
Europe Portugal Sigfox
Europe Romania Simple IoT
Europe Slovakia SimpleCell Networks
Europe Spain Sigfox
Europe Sweden IoT Sweden
Europe Switzerland Heliot IoT
Europe Turkey UNA IoT
Europe Ukraine Utilix.one
Europe United Kingdom WND Group
North America Costa Rica WND Group
North America El Salvador WND Group
North America Guadeloupe IDEO Caraïbes
North America Martinique IDEO Caraïbes
North America Mexico WND Group
North America Panama WND Group
North America United States Sigfox
Oceania Australia Thinxtra
Oceania French Polynesia VITI
Oceania New Caledonia iSMAC-NC
Oceania New Zealand Thinxtra
South America Argentina WND Group
South America Brazil WND Group
South America Chile WND Group
South America Colombia WND Group
South America Ecuador WND Group
South America French Guiana IDEO Caraïbes

References

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  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.