SIGFOX, WND and Phaxsi Solutions, on Thursday announced the IoT network’s deployment in Colombia. The rollout, managed by Phaxsi Solutions, which is the exclusive SIGFOX Network Operator (SNO) in Colombia, coincides with the launch of a nationwide alliance of universities, technology leaders and companies known as the Center of Excellence and Appropriation of Internet of Things (CEA-IoT). The alliance received an initial investment of $1.8 million this year to promote the IoT as a tool for strengthening Colombia’s economic development.

“This is a very timely launch of SIGFOX’s network in Colombia on many levels. First, its light infrastructure enables Phaxsi to quickly and simply connect Colombian businesses and citizens to the IoT. Second, our goal is to work with the national alliance to sustainably develop, consolidate and grow the IoT market in Colombia. Finally, the arrival of this global connectivity solution opens the door to new economically competitive and energy-efficient services for Colombian businesses. These will deliver a significant, positive impact for the Colombian economy,” said Carolina Campo, Phaxsi CEO and co-founder.

She said likely IoT use cases and applications for companies and government agencies include logistics, supply-chain management, asset-tracking, crop and soil monitoring, alarm systems for homes and businesses, smoke detectors, smart-city apps and utility meter reading.

SIGFOX’s rapidly growing global network provides simple, reliable, energy-efficient and cost-effective connectivity for billions of objects that communicate small messages to the cloud, and which make up the vast majority of IoT use cases. With its unique offer, SIGFOX enables businesses to add new services with their products, allowing them to expand their business models and grow revenue.

Following deployment of SIGFOX’s dedicated, bidirectional IoT network in Brazil and Mexico earlier this year, Colombia becomes the third Latin American nation to roll out the global network and the 24th globally. With Brazil and Mexico, Colombia’s deployment, which has already begun, will extend SIGFOX coverage to 57 percent of Latin America’s territory and 60 percent of its population.

Phaxsi Solutions is collaborating with WND, the SIGFOX partner founded in 2015 to deploy the network throughout Latin America, to provide IoT connectivity in Colombia. The partners said the country’s top 10 urban areas, representing more than 50 percent of the country’s population, will be covered by mid-2017.

“Colombia, our third nationwide deployment in Latin America this year, is clearly a key part of our mission to rapidly develop the IoT ecosystem in this region. We are eager to develop Colombia with Phaxsi, which has a strong strategic mix of radio experience and entrepreneurial spirit required to quickly deliver the many benefits of the IoT to the people of Colombia. And we see many application, hardware and ecosystem synergies across the region that already includes Colombia, Mexico and Brazil,” said Chris Bataillard, founder of WND.

“SIGFOX’s economical and reliable connectivity solution will help overcome infrastructure and cost barriers for IoT adoption in Colombia. In addition, the company’s global ecosystem of partners, such as component and device manufacturers, IT developers and integrators, will help quickly grow Colombia’s IoT ecosystem,” said Rodolphe Baronnet-Frugès, Executive Vice President, Networks and Operators, SIGFOX.

“Colombia is a very promising setting for rapid IoT adoption because public and private groups recognize the key role the IoT can play in the creation of new companies, improved efficiencies for businesses and new services for citizens. SIGFOX will work with WND and Phaxsi Solutions to quickly build the local ecosystem of hardware manufacturers, solution makers, startups and others to rapidly realize these benefits for Colombians. As we have demonstrated in every country where our network operates, SIGFOX makes possible what was not possible before,” added Rodolphe Baronnet-Frugès.