Forecast: Cellular IoT market $61bn by 2026
February 15, 2022
A sudy from Juniper Research has found that the global value of the cellular IoT market will reach $61 billion by 2026; rising from $31 billion in 2022. It identified the growth of 5G and cellular LPWA (Low-power Wide Area) technologies as key to this 95 per cent increase over the next four years.
The study also expects carrier billing spend on content bundling to enable operators to further recoup investments into 5G by charging a premium to facilitate high-quality video and games streaming over 5G networks. To maximise this opportunity, it urges operators to offer payment services in markets underserved by existing digital payment methods to maximise carrier billing spend.
The report urged operators to migrate IoT connections on legacy networks to networks that support LPWA technologies. It anticipated that demand from enterprises for low-cost monitoring technologies, enabled by LPWA networks, will increase as these legacy networks are shut off over the next four years.
Research co-author Charles Bowman commented: “Operators must educate users on the suitability of LPWA as a replacement technology for legacy networks. However, many IoT networks cannot solely rely on LPWA technologies. More comprehensive technologies, such as 5G, must underpin IoT network architectures and work in tandem with LPWA technologies to maximise the value of IoT services.”
Conversely, the report predicted that 5G IoT services will generate $9 billion of revenue by 2026; rising from $800 million in 2021. This represents a growth of 1,000 per cent over the next five years as 5G coverage expands and operators benefit from the increased number of 5G IoT connections. To capitalise on this growth, it recommended operators offer value-added services, such as network slicing and edge computing, to IoT users to maximise the value of 5G adoption.