Sigfox

What is Sigfox?

Sigfox is a French company headquartered in Labège, a suburb of Toulouse. In Paris (17th arrondissement), Sigfox also has premises housing a Hacking House, which opened in June 2019, allowing students and entrepreneurs to test the technology and develop Sigfox IoT sensors.

Sigfox's deployment principles are based on the use of existing sites. Located between 25 and 30 meters above sea level, these sites can be operator sites or building rooftops made available to the company without rental fees in exchange for "smart building" services.

How does Sigfox technology work?

Like LoRa, Sigfox operates on the free frequency band of 868 MHz in Europe and 915 MHz in North America.

However, more technically, Sigfox modulation is not based on the spread spectrum principle like LoRa modulation, but operates in the ultra-narrow band (UND – Ultra Narrow Band). It should be noted that this technology offers less attractive performance in terms of interference immunity.

Furthermore, Sigfox communications are limited in quantity and volume. Indeed, bidirectional and low speed, the upstream communication cannot exceed 140 messages/day, of 12 bytes at most, and the downstream flows are limited to 4 messages/day of 8 bytes.

One of the main issues Sigfox is addressing is changing sensor batteries. Although the current battery life of the devices is around 10 years, changing all the batteries in a fleet of devices will be a costly operation in due course. This is why Sigfox is investing in R&D into energy harvesting technologies, which would allow devices to capture energy from their immediate environment and thus become 100% autonomous.

What is the role of the backend infrastructure?

Sigfox provides developers and smart device manufacturers with a development kit that allows them to create IoT applications linked to connected objects on its network. With this backend infrastructure accessible online, they can set up, configure, and manage the maintenance of their servers, the data they collect, and their apps. The operator expects to generate 50% of its revenue from service sales by the end of 2020, compared to 20% today.

What are the Sigfox network prices?

Sigfox remains fairly discreet about its prices, which vary depending on the number of devices its customers wish to connect to its network and the amount of data they transmit over it. According to journaldunet.com, the average prices are as follows:

• €3/year/item, but this price could fluctuate from €1 to €9
• €5 to €15 per modem
• $2 in Europe and $3 in the USA and Asia per radio connection module

What is Sigfox's business strategy?

Sigfox is a massive connectivity provider for the IoT. Its customers, often integrators, are referred to as "channel partners" who provide services to end customers. They can also be companies that develop devices compatible with the Sigfox network. In total, Sigfox has 750 partners worldwide. These partners have the advantage of being able to sell their systems worldwide. Sigfox plays a dual role:

• Unite the ecosystem by offering dedicated teams to facilitate the adoption of its technology through programs aimed at:
  • Academics and universities: provision of online programs and speakers for in-person training

   

  • Business incubators: provision of online programs and training to introduce Sigfox product offerings

   

  • Startups wishing to grow in scale and become SMEs: support program to find international sources of financing.

   

• Sell connectivity-related equipment, or even provide operator services themselves

[1] At the end of 2018, Sigfox had 3.6 million connected objects.