KÖLN, GERMANY 3 May 2018:
1NCE has signed a contract with Flashnet to provide 2G, 3G and narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) data connectivity on a buy once, flat rate fee for ten years. Avainable in the EU, Norway and Switzerland, 1NCE’s flat rate offer provides up to 500MB for ten years for a one-time fee of €10.
Contract management with existing cellular providers may be time-consuming and the recurrent cost of cellular connections has always been an issue with street lighting control installations. Delivering carrier-grade connectivity for IoT services and utilising existing mobile infrastructure to keep costs low for customers may become an interesting opportunity for everyone.
“This new concept is going to help us revolutionize once again the concept of street lighting control.,” said Marius Popescu, the marketing manager of Flashnet. “Until now, the monetary cost of connections prevented full scale mobile communication adoption for IoT, but with the ten year flat rate connection plan this is no longer a concern.”
The simplicity of the 1NCE offering also means that smaller deployments, which would not have been viable previously, can now become reality. “What’s great is that a small municipality with 1,000 streetlights or less, which would previously have been cautious of investing in smart streetlighting because of the unpredictable cost and the complexity of managing the connectivity, can now acquire GSM-connected devices plus connectivity at a very low pricepoint,” explained Alexander Bufalino, the chief sales officer of 1NCE. “It’s a total gamechanger and opens up the smart streetlighting market to smaller municipalities.”