LPWAN works at scale.
Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to innovation labs or pilot projects. Across utilities, logistics, manufacturing and the public sector, AI-driven systems are increasingly being used to predict failures, optimise resource usage and automate operational decision-making.
Yet as many organisations are discovering, AI initiatives rarely fail because of algorithms or processing power. They fail because the underlying data is incomplete, inconsistent or unreliable over time.
In South Africa – where infrastructure assets are widely distributed, operational budgets are constrained and systems are expected to run for years without interruption – the challenge is not collecting more data, but collecting the right data consistently. This is where low power wide area networks (LPWAN) are emerging as a critical layer of enterprise infrastructure.
“AI promises insight, but insight only comes from data you can trust over time,” says Gregory Rood, Chief Executive Officer at Sigfox South Africa. “LPWAN networks like Sigfox are designed specifically for long-life, low-maintenance data collection – which is exactly what large-scale AI initiatives depend on.”
AI depends on long-term data, not short-term connectivity
AI systems generate value through pattern recognition. Detecting anomalies, forecasting demand, predicting equipment failure or identifying inefficiencies all rely on historical datasets collected over extended periods.
In South Africa, this requirement intersects with very real infrastructure challenges. Research from Stats SA and the CSIR continues to highlight inefficiencies in water distribution, electricity delivery and asset maintenance. Non-revenue water losses alone represent a significant economic burden for municipalities, while manual monitoring and reactive maintenance drive up costs.
LPWAN addresses these challenges by enabling:
- Battery-powered devices that operate for many years.
- Reliable data transmission from remote or hard-to-access locations.
- Minimal maintenance and predictable operating costs.
From an enterprise IT perspective, this consistency is critical. AI models trained on fragmented or short-term datasets deliver limited insight. LPWAN provides the continuity required for AI systems to mature and improve over time.
Why LPWAN works at scale – and why Sigfox is different
LPWAN technologies were designed specifically for environments where thousands or millions of devices must co-exist, each transmitting small amounts of data reliably.
Sigfox’s ultra-narrowband approach prioritises:
- Extremely low power consumption.
- High resilience to interference.
- Massive network density per device.
- Simple, predictable message structures.
This architecture allows devices to operate for up to a decade on a single battery while maintaining dependable data delivery. For large organisations, this dramatically reduces operational risk and total cost of ownership.
“From an architecture standpoint, predictability matters,” Rood explains.“When organisations design systems that need to operate for 10 or 15 years, they need confidence that the underlying network won’t introduce volatility or unexpected costs.”
Unlike higher bandwidth networks that evolve rapidly and require constant upgrades to edge equipment, LPWAN is intentionally designed in such a way that network upgrades and enhancements to the service offering are handled at a network base level and not at an end-user equipment level – negating the need for onsite firmware or hardware upgrades, an advantage when building solutions intended to support long-term AI strategies.
Stability as a strategic advantage
Sigfox South Africa operates a production-grade LPWAN network designed to support real-world deployments across utilities, asset tracking, agriculture and environmental monitoring.
This stability is increasingly important as enterprises move beyond IOT pilots and into scaled production environments. AI initiatives amplify this requirement – unreliable data sources undermine confidence in automated decision-making.
“Our focus has never been on chasing trends,” Rood adds. “It’s on building infrastructure that organisations can rely on throughout the full life cycle of their digital and AI strategies.”
As AI becomes embedded in enterprise operations, LPWAN is shifting from a technical consideration to a strategic one – providing the dependable data layer that intelligent systems require.
Enterprises and solution providers exploring scalable IOT and AI-enabled deployments can engage with the Sigfox South Africa ecosystem to understand how LPWAN supports long-term operational intelligence.
Visit sigfoxsa.co.za or contact [email protected].
