Founded and spun out of Plextek Limited, the company pioneered the system that meters, manages and controls streetlights, a process now labelled Smart Street Lighting. At its core it utilises the Ultra Narrow Band (UNB) wireless protocol to achieve extended coverage owing to its long radio range and corresponding low requirements for cells and associated base station hardware.
The Telensa system has typically been procured by local councils and utility organisations who have been attracted by its green credentials, savings from lower electricity consumption and reduced maintenance costs. Smart street lighting is a key component of smarter urban environments.
In 2015, sustainability investor ETF Partners invested in Telensa to enable the global scaling-up of the company's technology which has, in turn, resulted in a strong market position with more than two million connected streetlights in 400 cities globally, based on nearly 100 networks.
In the UK, Telensa has played a significant role in the modernisation of street lighting. Currently, 29% of UK streetlights are smart and overall they consume 28% less electricity today than they did in 2010.
The sale to Signify complements its existing activities in street lighting by adding new technology and customers.
