HOW IOT IS BECOMING MORE AVAILABLE, SECURE AND AFFORDABLE IN SOUTH AFRICA
SIGFOX, the world’s largest IOT network, is now available in all South Africa’s major metros, offering reliability, security and affordability, says Reshaad Sha, Sqwidnet CEO.
The South African Internet-of-things (IOT) market is poised for significant growth and is estimated to exceed $2 billion by 2020. Locally, IOT provides benefits to each link in the value chain, from retail to manufacturing quality control to real-time tracking for logistics, and there are many distributors in SA making IOT a reality.
“New innovative entrepreneurial businesses are emerging, and they are not only addressing SA and Africa-specific problems – many are developing products locally that are being used in Europe, North America, and Australia,” says Sha.
The rise of IOT in South Africa is set to revolutionise all local sectors, stimulating industry growth and economic development.
“There are many benefits coming out of the billions of objects being digitised. We are seeing an increase in the rate of innovation of new services being brought to the market,” adds Sha. “The real-time and near-real-time collection of data from these devices will drive machine learning, early detection and autonomous workflow in the future. We will also see new business models emerging based on IOT analytics.”
One of the predominant challenges, however, is the problem of connecting billions of devices in a costefficient and secure manner, while reducing energy consumption. This challenge has been solved by the SIGFOX network, which has now been rolled out across all of South Africa’s major cities, with full national coverage to be completed early in 2018. “As the exclusive partner of SIGFOX, Sqwidnet is addressing the need for a cost efficient nationwide IOT network in South Africa. The network we are building will ensure that at least 85% of the population will be covered with our network, and the connectivity costs are pegged at the lowest level enabling hundreds of millions of objects to be connected,” says Sha. SIGFOX technology has a long range, enabling devices to communicate with the Sqwidnet network from tens of kilometres away. The Sigfox-enabled device is also low-power, with a battery that could potentially last for ten years and more – up to 300-times more efficient than a cellular device.
"The rise of IOT in South Africa is set to revolutionise all local sectors"
SIGFOX overcomes the other typical challenges facing the rise of IOT, as it is open-access, has built-in reliability and security features, and is up to 10-times cheaper to operate on the Sqwidnet network than it is to use cellular technology.
In fact, Sha adds that “customers don’t even need to bother with any other connectivity charges, even in other countries where SIGFOX has been rolled out”. The SIGFOX network now spans across 33 countries and new countries are being added to the list at a rapid pace. The company plans to have coverage in 60 countries by 2018. ■