London, Sept. 8, 2017: The GSMA today announced that mobile network operators were set to benefit from an estimated US $1.8 trillion Internet of Things (IoT) revenue opportunity by 2026 boosted by the early deployment of commercial Low Power Wide Area Networks in licensed spectrum. This, it said in a press release, was as per figures in the newly released IoT Forecast Database Research published by analyst house Machina Research.
The new findings highlight the “huge growth opportunities” for mobile operators delivered through new Mobile IoT applications and services. To date, 12 mobile operators have launched 15 commercial Mobile IoT services, including AT&T, Telstra and Verizon (LTE-M), as well as China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, M1, Turkcell, Verizon and Vodafone (NB-IoT). The research also indicated that the Americas region will account for an estimated US $ 534 billion, or approximately a third of the total revenue.
“There is a real sense of momentum behind Mobile IoT networks in licensed spectrum, with multiple commercial launches around the world, as well as the availability of hundreds of different applications and solutions, but there is still much to be done,” said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA. “Many operators are already reaping the benefits of deploying Mobile IoT and we encourage others to act now to capitalise on this clear market opportunity and further accelerate the development of the Internet of Things.”
The new findings highlight that consumer demand for connected home (US$441 billion), consumer electronics (US$376 billion) and connected car technologies (US$273 billion) represent the biggest revenue opportunities for IoT. However, other areas such as connected energy look set to reach US$128 billion by 2026 as a result of local governments and consumers seeking smarter ways to manage utilities. Similarly, revenues from connected cities are forecast to reach US$78 billion by 2026.
Mobile operators are enhancing their licensed cellular networks with NB-IoT and LTE-M technologies which utilise globally agreed 3GPP standards to scale the IoT. Mobile IoT networks are expected to have 862 million active connections by 2022 or 56 percent of all LPWA connections3. These new Mobile IoT networks are designed to support mass-market IoT applications across a wide variety of use cases, such as industrial asset tracking, safety monitoring, water and gas metering, smart grids, city parking, vending machines and city lighting, requiring solutions that are low cost, use low data rates, require long battery lives and can operate in remote locations.
The GSMA Mobile IoT initiative was created to help the industry deliver commercial LPWA solutions in licensed spectrum. It is currently backed by 74 global mobile operators, device makers and chipset, module and infrastructure companies worldwide. In the space of a year, it has helped to establish market standards for LPWA, published by 3GPP, that will play a fundamental role in the growth, development and adoption of the technology as well as securely and cost effectively connect the billions of new devices making up the IoT.
Mobile IoT at Mobile World Congress Americas 2017
At Mobile World Congress Americas in San Francisco next month, the GSMA’s Internet of Things programme will host the ‘5th GSMA Global Mobile IoT Summit’ on Monday, 11 September.