Signify adds narrowband smart lighting with Telensa acquisition

Telensa, which was valued at £11m, will continue to sell under its own brand as a subsidiary of Signify. Telensa claims to have “connected over 2 million street lights in over 400 cities” and will look to increase this current offering as part of Signify.

The company specialises in narrowband and unlicensed spectrum, which compared to licensed cellular broadband can be a lower-cost and longer-range way to transmit lighting while using less data.

The majority of Telensa’s installations are within small and medium sized cities that use what the company calls its “Ultra Narrow Band” network and its PLANet brand to plan deployment and track data about street light status. Recent major deployments for Telensa include across Essex with 130,000 street lights and Birmingham with 107,000 street lights.

Telensa also deploys lighting-connected sensors and imaging technology to provide data on things such as traffic, people, air quality and events. Signify said it will combine this technology with its Interact City Internet of Things (IoT) products and services.