Taiwanese advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and private network provider Ubiik has acquired New Zealand industrial IoT solution outfit Mimomax Wireless for an undisclosed fee. The pair said the deal created a “best-of-breed wireless solutions provider for utilities and critical infrastructure”. Ubik said it will accelerate its own market expansion, and bring its private LTE product line into Mimomax’s global mission critical customer base.
Mimomax, founded in 2007 makes multiple input / output (MIMO) radios for mission critical deployments in the utilities and energy sectors, plus in the government, public safety, mining, and transportation markets. Ubiik, founded in 2016, has gained success in Taiwan, notably, by providing private low-power wide-area (LPWA) connectivity based on the Weightless technology for electricity metering.
It has since grown its low-power IoT connectivity offerings to include LTE-based NB-IoT and LTE-M. 3GPP Releases 14 and 15 of the LTE standard have made LTE-M and NB-IoT complementary with Weightless LPWAN, enabling Ubiik to offer a hybrid LPWA solution. It launched the first 3GPP Release 15 LTE-M/NB-IoT base station, under the brand goRAN, last year; it introduced base station, branded freeRAN, to also support unlicensed spectrum for LTE-M last month
Its freeRAN and goRAN solutions seek to meet demand from utilities for secure and scalable 3GPP technologies, it said. Its private LTE play is because “public LTE networks… impede utilities’ AMI deployments”. It is pushing its private LTE offer as a solution for utilities and also for other mission-critical industry 4.0 sectors. It is targeting new sales in North America, India, Europe, and (per the acquisition of Mimomax), in Australasia.
It explained: “Ubiik and Mimomax can now offer an array of new possibilities for both mission and business critical communications. For example, existing US Utility customers who have deployed Mimomax products in the narrowband 700 MHz Upper Block A can now leverage their spectrum acquisition through adding Ubiik’s goRAN NB-IoT Band 103 as a retrofit. This new opportunity offers the ability to connect smart meters and IoT devices effectively for a fraction of the cost of deploying new private LTE infrastructure.”
Tienhaw Peng, founder and chief executive at Ubiik, said: “Our foray into the US private LTE market was driven by Ubiik’s homegrown solutions, and this acquisition of Mimomax injects additional momentum into our collective growth. In tandem, we’re poised to boost the performance, security, and cost-effectiveness of critical networks. Our commitment to propelling efficiencies for utility and industrial customers remains steadfast as we continue to unveil ground-breaking products and explore future acquisitions.”
Paul Reid, chief executive at Mimomax Wireless, said: “Combining Mimomax’s legacy of mission critical radio solutions with Ubiik’s deep understanding of AMI and private LTE represents an exciting prospect for customers. [It] will enable one of the most comprehensive product portfolios available – from the rigors of teleprotection and critical linking to the operational gains of field area networking, to meter infrastructure, sensors and even streetlights. This acquisition promotes a product line-up, and know how, that will meet the full spectrum of requirements – be it mission or business critical, narrowband or LTE.”
Ubiik recently won a supply deal with Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) for the deployment of an AMI system to host 450,000 additional smart meters. It is the company’s fourth consecutive AMI-tender win in Taiwan, it said, following major deals with Taiwanese utilities in 2018, 2019, and 2020; the Taipower contract represents “Taiwan’s largest IoT project”, it reckons, and brings the total value of its AMI contracts to $58 million, covering the installation of 1.17 million meters by 2024.
