The OEM plans to build a cost effective IoT network in Japan.
The company is to create the network for the Internet of Things (IoT) by early 2018 and will set up “more than 600 wireless data communications hubs around the country”, reported Nikkei Asian Review
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The vision is to have applications such as “collecting data from smart meters and tracking stolen bicycles”, and the company has projected annual sales of 10 billion yen (€84.4/$95.3 million) in the fiscal year 2020 basing this on 15 million subscribers.
Kyocera plans to charge a low fee of 100 yen (€.86/$.94) a yearm which compared to IoT services using mobile phone networks is said to be cheaper. This low fee has been made possible by the French start-up Sigfox, who state that they are the “biggest IoT ecosystem. From predictive maintenance, asset management to crop management or pallet tracking we’ve given life to more than 8 million objects across the world”. They have networks across 24 countries and their technology has been commercialised in all of them including the US, UK and France.
The site added that “each wireless base station covers a radius of several kilometres. Networks based on the technology have lower data throughput than mobile data communications networks. But LPWA technology is highly energy-efficient — a single AA battery is said to be able to power a module for as long as five years”.
Kyocera plan to start in central Tokyo this February, and said that by “ investing billions of yen, it aims to extend coverage to 36 major cities around the country by the spring of 2018”, after which the network will be further expanded.