The SIGFOX network, along withs its partners POST Luxembourg and RMS.lu, today revealed plans to deploy a long-range broadband network throughout the country by the end of 2015.
The partnership uses the complementary facilities of POST Luxembourg, the main telecom operator and ICT service provider in the country; RMS.lu, a specialist in the development, installation and support of automatic identification and mobility solutions for public services, industry and trade; and SIGFOX, the single operator of a global network dedicated to narrowband Machine to Machine (M2M) communications and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Launched in June 2012, SIGFOX connects mulitple industrial and consumer applications due to its coverage of over one million km2 in Europe. The broadband connectivity of SIGFOX allows for the transmission of significant data volumes of smartphones and other electronic devices, and can also be used to transmit small amounts of data over long distances in a bidirectional, economic and energy-efficient manner.
Luxembourg's first SIGFOX sites were made in Luxembourg City and Ettelbrück by POST Luxembourg and RMS.lu in Spring of 2015, with various applications having since been tested in the field. The current network covers about 30% of the Grand Duchy's population, and national coverage is expected for the end of 2015.
POST Luxembourg and RMS.lu offer formulas to allow public, industrial and business entities to implement innovative projects related to transport; the 'intelligent city' (ie measuring water consumption, signalling parking availability, locating objects, managing air quality); health services; and the insurance of property or people, among others.
"In addition to providing these essential IoT services, POST Luxembourg and RMS.lu will work with developers and the businesses of Luxembourg to stimulate the growth of the IoT ecosystem and create a host of new devices and applications," stated Jean-Marie Spaus, Deputy Director-General at POST Luxembourg and Head of POST Telecom S.A. "The SIGFOX network, highly complementary to our 3G and 4G broadband offers, enables us to provide an efficient and low-cost connectivity to items designed to send short messages intermittently, as required."
Director at RMS.lu, Carlo Posing, added: "With the deployment of SIGFOX network, we provide the infrastructure to help the Luxembourgish aconomy improve its productivity and competitiveness."
The SIGFOX network is already present in France, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands and is currently being deployed in Portugal, Denmarka and Belgium. This year, Luxembourg is the fourth European country to announce the SIGFOX network deployment, with the company due to announced new partnerships in Europe, Asia, the US and South America by the end of the year.
"This network deployment in Luxembourg clearly illustrates the benefits that SIGFOX brings to cellular broadband providers and entrepreneurial companise such as RMS.lu," commented Rodolphe Baronnet-Frugès, SIGFOX Executive Vice-President in charge of networks and operators. "POST Luxembourg has the existing infrastructure, at a national level, needed to accelerate the deployment of a network dedicated to IoT. By strategically complementing the broadband services, it now offers its customers the chance to connect to millions of items at a restricted economic and energetic expense. RMS.lu recognises the commercial potential that the SIGFOX network offers to the users of its products and solutions in the public, industry and trade services."
