How to Serve a Global Market with One Move, Part 2
Cellular LPWA Solutions Have Grossly Missed the Mark
No other existing or developing LPWA technology comes close in size to our marketplace. Also, RPMA enables our partners to reach economies of scale quicker than any other. Cellular ecosystems are very highly fractured with dozens of bands. Device or other value-adding partners wanting to deploy using the still-developing cellular LPWA solutions have to choose very carefully which bands to support, wait to see which carriers will support which technologies (Cat 1, NB-IoT, LTE-M1, or whatever other technologies are in the pipeline), and then have to decide what regions make sense to serve. All the while, they are missing out on economies of scale by dividing the production volumes up across all of those fractured markets. The consumers miss out here as well because there will be far less competition because the complex nature of getting a solution in this space is a serious barrier to entry of device makers. Not only that, but the cost will always be higher because certification costs for each carrier are as much as $100k per device per carrier. Then there’s the fact that a device built to support multiple bands will always cost more than one designed to support only one band. Lower competition here will lead to higher prices and lower quality of goods. Standards-based technologies have completely failed the consumer here and missed the mark. Where standards bodies and the participating intellectual property rights holders should simplify, they add complexity. Where they should introduce competition, they remove it. Where they should serve consumers, their competing IP interests conflict with producing the best product.
Other Existing LPWA Technologies’ Marketplaces Aren’t Even Close to Global
With the 900 MHz band used by Sigfox® and LoRa® technologies, you get fractured coverage as well. For instance, if a device maker wants to address the North American market, they have to design a device for the 915 MHz band, and then if they want the European market, they have to design for the 868 MHz band. Immediately that company has to manufacture twice as many devices to reach scale. Immediately device makers will start choosing one area or the other to support initially. Some areas of the world, like South America, have extremely fractured regulations when it comes to the 900 MHz band, and some areas don’t even have a 900 MHz band (Asia), though one is in the works somewhere in the 700 MHz range. So, in even the best case scenario, a company would need to design four separate devices to try and almost reach a global market. Consumers lose yet again, with less competition leading to higher prices and lower quality products.
Our Partners Win. Consumers Win. Everyone Gets a Trophy.
Because RPMA uses the only truly global wireless band to provide connectivity, it uniquely offers the largest marketplace to its ecosystem partners. No other wireless provider can even come close the ease of access to a global marketplace that we provide to our partners. One band to design for. Done. Our partners in South Africa (and everywhere else for that matter) reach a global market immediately. And startups in Asia can compete with those in Europe. That also means that no other IoT connectivity provider can approach the quality and prices of products because no other marketplace will have the level of competition that our ecosystem can provide. With the competition that only RPMA can bring, everyone wins, and no other existing or developing IoT connectivity solution can say that.