The demand for dedicated IoT networks is growing world-wide and considering billions of connected devices, the timing of the network deployment, is overall highly significant. Sigfox, the 0G network pioneer and the world’s leading IoT service provider, will now be available in India thanks to iWire now signing up to become its exclusive operator for the Indian market., iWire already has a growing, strategic partnership with Sigfox across 12 markets including India. The company rtecently raised US$34 million in Series A fundraise led by Noor Capital and supported by Bpifrance, the French sovereign wealth fund and a leading Export Credit Agency in Europe (Bpifrance Assurance Export acting on behalf of the French State). Bpi France has granted a long-term equipment purchase option to iWire, through a US$25 million buyer credit agreement, exclusively for the development of Sigfox networks in 12 countries across Asia, Middle East and Africa including India. The investment will be utilized by iWire to build the digital communication infrastructure to power massive IoT across these 12 countries. iWire has so far raised over US$47 million, over the past three years.
Ahmed Fasih Akhtar, the CEO of iWire, said,”We offer our customers, an alternative to legacy connectivity solutions, which enables successful digital transformation at a lower cost of ownership. Our solutions contribute to our customers’ business efficiencies as well as their satisfaction. India is at a crucial inflection point and this is the best time for us to be here. Besides, our knowledge of deploying IoT networks has led to deep understanding of the various challenges faced by the industry which means we will bring substantial value to emerging markets like India. In his e-mailed comments, Jeremy Prince, the CEO of Sigfox, said,“Companies and organizations across the world are embracing IoT and 0G to transform the way they operate. We are thrilled to have a great company like iWire amongst our incredible community of Sigfox Operators, now representing us in India as well. There has been significant interest in India to our network and offering which iWire will now look to build on,” added.
Sigfox, the 0G network pioneer and the world’s leading IoT service provider, offers a unique combination of ultra-low cost and ultra-low power technologies supported by a global network, enabling businesses to gain visibility and track their assets worldwide. With 17+ million connected devices and 70 million messages sent a day, Sigfox has proven to helping it’s customers extract crucial data at the lowest cost and to accelerate their digital transformation in key areas like Asset Tracking and Supply Chain. In India, iWire plans to target high-volume industries that use connected products the most like Utilities, Smart Cities, Smart Facilities, Digital Health and Smart Logistics.
iWire primarily builds country-wide communications networks to power massive IoT solutions, using Sigfox technology. It also designs and develops innovative IoT products and solutions that are critical for achieving digital transformation. As the market for connected devices is experiencing exponential growth, “iWire Technologies”, a brand under which it’s developing IoT devices ranging from high-quality connected products like utility meters, gas sensors, health watch, smart ID, smoke detectors, container trackers to streetlighting solutions, is expected to do well. The strategy is to develop IoT products and sell them through distribution channels on a global scale.