Flashnet to light up smart cities with 1NCE connectivity

COLOGNE/BONN, 05/08/2018 – 1NCE, the provider of a revolutionary connectivity offering that enables IoT applications and services to access connectivity on a buy once, flat rate fee for ten years, has announced that smart streetlighting innovator Flashnet is to introduce 1NCE’s 2G, 3G and narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) offering in its product portfolio as a new connectivity option.

Smart lighting projects are increasing as city authorities recognise the energy efficiency and simplified lighting management that systems can provide. However, a barrier to deployment has been the complexity and cost involved in establishing wireless network connections to support smart lighting. Authorities find contract management with existing cellular providers a time-consuming burden and the cost of cellular connections can be prohibitive. In addition, deploying or securing coverage from low power wide area (LPWA) networks can be a challenge in many locations.

1NCE’s headline flat rate offer provides up to 500MB for ten years for a one-time fee of €10. The company has partnered with Deutsche Telekom in order to provide carrier-grade connectivity for IoT services and utilises its own operational and lean management systems in order to keep costs low for customers.

“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.”

Popescu pointed out that 1NCE also offers benefits beyond simply cost saving. “There’s also the ease of implementation,” he added. “You can have your own pilot system up and connected instantly, it’s that easy to deploy. The city doesn’t have to invest and maintain their own communications infrastructure and the smart lighting system just works.”

The simplicity of the 1NCE offering also means that smaller deployments, which would not previously have been viable, 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 infrastructure costs and the complexity of managing the connectivity, can now acquire GSM-connected devices plus connectivity at a very low price point,” explained Alexander Bufalino, the chief sales officer of 1NCE. “It’s a total gamechanger and opens up the smart streetlighting market to smaller municipalities.”

This could go further and potentially address even smaller organisations in future. “Our customers now are cities but this really opens the door to smaller customers. From small villages to logistic companies, outdoor lighting control will become increasingly accessible,” said Popescu. “This isn’t a market we’re targeting yet but it’s good that the door to this scenario is opening with offerings like 1NCE’s.”

“The smart streetlighting market is maturing rapidly with cities asking for solutions now,” added Popescu. “When people evaluate the options we have one of the most flexible offerings both in terms of integration and connectivity. This is also exciting for 1NCE because we’re a really good use case for their proposal, it’s a win-win situation.”

More information can be found in the press release here