Finland will become the 19th country to have a Sigfox network, after the Internet of Things player announced plans to deploy there this summer.
The company is aiming to cover 85 percent of the population by spring 2017 in its partnership with Connected Finland, a new company comprised of former Finnish telco professionals.
Connected Finland has identified the likes of insurance, smart cities and buildings, asset tracking, safety and security, and transportation as the industries that could benefit from a Sigfox-based IoT network.
Rodolphe Baronnet-Frugès, Sigfox Executive Vice-President Networks and Operators, said: “Finland is one of the world’s most competitive economies, with a strong focus on innovation and adopting new technologies in such fields as electronics and telecommunications. This positions the country to become a European leader in terms of quick adoption of the IoT and invention of exciting new applications for industry, business and personal use. We have seen this entrepreneurial spirit demonstrated strongly by our partners Connected Finland.”
Connected Finland co-founder Marko Vanninen added: “Connected Finland’s partnership with Sigfox will also provide many unique opportunities for Finnish device-and-solution providers to create new use cases that can extend the benefits of the IoT across Finnish society and in all sectors of the economy. Our partner Helsinki Ventures is already facilitating a developer program in Finland, enabled by Sigfox’s connectivity solution.”
More than seven million devices are connected to Sigfox’s global IoT networks and it is aiming to cover more than 30 countries by the end of this year.
Earlier this week, the company announced a partnership to connect devices carrying the Atari brand.