French IoT network provider Sigfox has announced a partnership with Advantech, with the intention to establish a nationwide IoT network in Taiwan. Advantech (which is based in Taiwan) has agreed to assist the company by building the base stations.
Sigfox is seen as a “rising star” in the French startup community, having established IoT networks in 24 countries (mostly in Europe), with seven million devices registered to its network. The announcement of the company’s plans for Taiwan come just one month after an announcement to move into Singapore, highlighting the company’s plans to extend to Asia.
Advantech plans to build 450 base stations for the Taiwanese IoT network, which will cover the entire island.
“Sigfox’s network technology is inexpensive, consumes little power and works over long distances,” said Advantech’s president Chaney Ho.
“Taiwan will become the leading manufacturing country in IoT devices. Everyone is concerned about where Taiwan’s technology industry will go next after a remarkable performance in the information and communication technology sector [and] I am convinced IoT is the best and only path to take.”
Taiwan’s six largest cities or districts, containing half the country’s population of 23.5 million, will have coverage by mid-2017.
It is expected that the Asia-Pacific region will overtake Western Europe as the biggest host of Low-Power-Wide-Area (LPWA) connections by 2018, and by 2020 the region is expected to represent 46 per cent of the global total, according to market analysts.