ソラコム and Seeed have worked together to expand the use of cellular IoT boards, advancing the democratisation of IoT over 11 years and reaching 10 million contracted lines.
Since launching its service in 2015, ソラコム has promoted the democratisation of IoT and announced that the number of contracted lines across the group reached 10 million on 28 July 2026. IoT development faces challenges in long-term operation and real-world deployment after prototyping, and the use of affordable general-purpose devices is expanding.
Seeed’s cellular communications development boards “Wio LTE JP Version” and “Wio BG770A v1.0” are being offered through ソラコム’s sales and support structure, with adoption advancing in the field. Examples have been presented from a wide range of locations, including attendance-management devices for the Fukuoka Prefectural Government and Cybozu’s visualisation of collection boxes, as well as offices, mountainous areas and temporary worksites.
The division of roles between ソラコム and Seeed has developed into a structure in which Seeed handles the hardware while ソラコム handles communications, sales and support, establishing a system that complements the specialised knowledge required for cellular IoT. Initiatives that allow users to handle actual devices and learn how to use them through starter kits and workshops are also expanding.
As part of efforts to reduce the power consumption of the Wio series, Wio Extension – RTC was developed and commercialised as an expansion board that reduces power consumption through a power-off function. The BG770A adopts LTE-M on the premise of long-term supply, with knowledge gained from actual deployments reflected in its design.
The current democratisation of IoT is expanding beyond sensors and data collection to on-site automation and action support. A cycle continues in which user feedback is reflected in products to create new applications.