Sigfox, a low-cost network for connected objects, is continuing its deployment on Reunion Island, Mauritius and Mayotte. In Mauritius, the network is currently being installed, and half of the population should be served by the end of 2016, via TDF radio towers. In Reunion Island, Sigfox relied on a local operator, which is in charge of deploying the antennas and wishes to develop specific uses related to island issues. Mayotte, finally, should be connected in the first quarter of 2017.
According to Sigfox, islands and territories are suited to host this type of low-speed transmission technology for the following reasons: it is cheaper and consumes little energy. On Reunion Island, the Solynvest group, convinced of the success of this project, became a Sigfox operator and created the company IO Connect. The latter has announced the deployment of its network in Reunion, Mauritius and Mayotte.
Since the end of August, the company IO Connect has covered 80% of the island of Reunion, i.e. 92% of the population. Relying on TDF towers, about twenty Sigfox relays are currently installed on Reunion Island, out of the fifty or so needed for full coverage. The cost of the rollout is about “€1 million, “ says Bruce Chane, managing director of IO Connect.
Focus on natural resource management
Sigfox and its low-cost network are specifically targeted at natural resource management. For example, the Reunionese company Teeo, creator of an energy management software, has started to change its fleet of sensors to Sigfox.
“We are going to save a lot of money thanks to this technology, and we can’t wait to see the sensors available under Sigfox for all our uses, especially electrical and linked to the Linky meter,” suggests Dominique Vienne, founder of Teeo.
Source: outremers360
