By Juan Pedro Tomás
Both firms aim to offer IoT end-to-end solutions to smart cities and smart utilities across these two countries
Universal Communications Group (UCG) and National Narrowband Network Communications (NNNCo) announced a strategic alliance agreement to offer IoT end-to-end solutions to smart cities and smart utilities across Australia and New Zealand.
UCG is a supplier of network design, construction, operations, maintenance, and project management services. The company works with Australia and New Zealand’s largest telecommunications operators to optimize the performance of their existing and planned infrastructure. Some of UCG’s local government clients include City of Gold Coast and Lake Macquarie City Council.
NNNCo is an Australian LoRaWAN network operator with a carrier license, which focuses on the provision of IoT network services to enable enterprise-grade solutions for smart cities, smart utilities, smart agriculture and smart industries.
UCG’s CEO, Muralee Siva, said: “With the maturity of LoRaWAN IoT solutions represented by NNNCo’s carrier-grade solution and UCG’s Smart Cities initiatives, combined with its professional field services capability, we are excited to join hands with NNNCo to provide innovative solutions in this marketplace”.
“NNNCo is working closely with councils and utilities on initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint and adopt smart IoT applications that will reduce their costs but also increase operational efficiency and provide higher levels of service to their customers. Smart street lighting, people counting, transformer monitoring and other applications are increasingly being adopted by progressive councils and utilities and we believe the partnership with UCG will help accelerate the adoption of IoT”, said CEO at NNNCo, Rob Zagarella,.
“All leading indicators are pointing to a massive uptake in IoT services in 2022 and our partnership with UCG is providing NNNCo the ability to scale by leveraging UCG installations services. LoRAWAN technology has seen tremendous growth globally and is the technology of choice for IoT”, Zagarella added.
Both companies are looking forward to pursuing further joint strategic opportunities across Australia and New Zealand.
NNNCo has also rolled out city-wide LoRaWAN networks for several cities, including City of Gold Coast, City of Newcastle, and Lake Macquarie City Council.
Last month, NNNCo announced a contract with technology provider Wellness TechGroup, to provide IoT network coverage to 70,000 smart streetlights in Uruguay’s capital Montevideo.
The Australian firm said that the project will cover 200 square kilometers and provide smart street lighting to more than 1.3 million people.
NNNCo, Wellness TechGroup and their partners will replace Montevideo’s existing lighting system with LED technology and roll out an interoperable remote management system, which is designed to reduce carbon emissions by 31,500 tons of CO2 per year, a decrease of approximately 80 per cent.
The smart street lighting project will see the deployment of 70,000 new streetlights with LED technology using Wellness TechGroup’s CMS WeLight Manager software, LoRaWAN Actis Nema 7 LPC nodes and NNNCo’s LoRaWAN network.
