The “The Global M2M/IoT Communications Market: 10th Edition” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.

The research estimates that the global number of cellular IoT subscribers increased by 14 percent during 2024 to reach 3.8 billion at the end of the year – corresponding to around 30 percent of all mobile subscribers. Until 2029, the number of cellular IoT subscribers is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.0 percent to reach 6.4 billion at the end of the period. During the same period, cellular IoT connectivity revenues are forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 9.6 percent from € 14.2 billion in 2024 to approximately € 22.4 billion in 2029. Meanwhile the monthly ARPU is expected to drop to from € 0.33 to € 0.30.

Global cellular IoT connections reached 3.8 billion in 2024

China is the world’s largest market for cellular IoT connectivity services by volume. According to data from the national telecom regulator, the installed base in the country grew by 14 percent year-on-year to reach 2.7 billion IoT connections at the end of 2024. This corresponded to about 70 percent of the global installed base. The research believes that the role of the Chinese government is the main explanation for why China is ahead of the rest of the world in the adoption of IoT. Authorities actively endorse large-scale IoT deployments as a method for addressing problems affecting the society, whether it is crime, fire safety, energy conservation or traffic management. The private sector is directed and encouraged to do the same.

North America and Western Europe ranks as the second and third largest markets for IoT solutions with 294 million and 279 million IoT connections respectively at the end of 2024. In contrast to China, developments in these regions are largely driven by commercial interests. The connected car is currently one of the strongest trends with more than 90 percent of new cars sold featuring embedded cellular connectivity in the regions.

Other key application areas are fleet management of commercial vehicles, smart utility metering and monitored alarm systems. Latin America, South Asia and Central & Eastern Europe had in the range of 79-97 million IoT connections, while Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia had between 45-48 million. Australia & Oceania was the smallest region with approximately 20 million IoT connections. China Mobile is the world’s largest provider of cellular IoT connectivity services.

At the end of 2024, the operator reported 1.42 billion cellular IoT connections and a year-on-year growth rate of 8 percent. China Telecom and China Unicom ranked second and third with 628 million and 625 million connections respectively. Vodafone ranked first among the Western operators and fourth overall with 204 million connections, followed by AT&T with 143 million in fifth place.

Deutsche Telekom and Verizon had in the range of 56-60 million cellular IoT connections each. KDDI, Telefónica and Orange were the last players in the top ten with 37-49 million connections. The installed bases of the largest mobile operators grew at a rate of 5-26 percent annually. IoT managed service providers play a key role in the ecosystem with a combined installed base of more than 200 million cellular IoT connections.

A key differentiator for IoT managed service providers is the ability to aggregate multiple wireless wide area networks and thus provide superior area coverage, multi-domestic footprints and multi-technology connectivity on a single platform. Due to the nature of their business, the players are becoming increasingly international, supporting customers in many parts of the world.

Market Forecasts and Trends

Industry trends

• Top ten mobile operators manage 3.3 billion cellular IoT subscribers
• IoT revenues continue to grow slower than connections
• IoT managed service providers connect 200+ million cellular devices
• The international connectivity segment is evolving
• New entrants disrupt distribution channels
• eSIMs and fragmentation of CMPs drive the need for orchestration capabilities
• IoT MVNOs are driving consolidation in the IoT connectivity market
• Mobile operators partner with satellite IoT players to extend coverage
• Private cellular to grow from a niche into a substantial market

Vertical markets

• Connected cars on the rise
• Data consumption of connected cars will grow significantly
• Motor-powered two-wheeler telematics adoption picks up speed
• Telematics giants increasingly dominate the fleet management industry
• The opportunity to create smarter and safer cities
• Smart metering turns to new LPWA options for deployments in the 2020s
• Asset tracking to drive the second wave of LPWA deployments
• Connected healthcare reaches the masses
• Steady uptake of cellular connectivity in the POS terminal market
• Home energy and EV charging solutions to become new volume segments.

Technology trends

• Cellular technologies dominate wireless IoT
• NB-IoT uptake is growing on a project-by-project basis
• RedCap will accelerate the adoption of 5G in IoT
• Distributed core networks facilitate global IoT connectivity services
• The SGP.32 specification will lower the barriers for eSIM adoption in IoT

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

1 Wide Area Networks for the Internet of Things

1.1 3GPP family of cellular technologies

1.2 LPWA and satellite technologies

1.3 IoT connectivity management platforms and eSIM solutions

1.4 International coverage and alliances

2 Europe

2.1 Regional market trends

2.1.1 Western Europe

2.1.2 Central and Eastern Europe

2.2 Mobile operators

2.2.1 A1 Telekom Austria

2.2.2 Altice Group

2.2.3 Bouygues Telecom

2.2.4 BT Group

2.2.5 CK Hutchison Group Telecom

2.2.6 Deutsche Telekom

2.2.7 KPN

2.2.8 OV (Manx Telecom)

2.2.9 MegaFon

2.2.10 MTS

2.2.11 Orange

2.2.12 POST Luxembourg

2.2.13 Proximus

2.2.14 Tele2

2.2.15 Telecom Italia

2.2.16 Telefonica

2.2.17 Telenor

2.2.18 Telia Company

2.2.19 Vodafone

2.3 IoT managed service providers

2.3.1 1GLOBAL

2.3.2 1NCE

2.3.3 1oT

2.3.4 Airnity

2.3.5 BICS

2.3.6 Com4 (Wireless Logic)

2.3.7 Cubic

2.3.8 CSL Group

2.3.9 emnify

2.3.10 Eseye

2.3.11 floLIVE

2.3.12 Freeeway

2.3.13 Giesecke+Devrient

2.3.14 iBASIS

2.3.15 Onomondo

2.3.16 Pelion

2.3.17 Velos IoT

2.3.18 Wireless Logic

2.4 LPWA networks

2.4.1 LoRa networks

2.4.2 Sigfox and network partners

3 The Americas

3.1 Regional market trends

3.1.1 United States and Canada

3.1.2 Brazil

3.1.3 Rest of Latin America

3.2 Mobile operators

3.2.1 AT&T

3.2.2 Bell

3.2.3 Verizon

3.2.4 T-Mobile USA

3.2.5 Rogers Communications

3.2.6 TELUS

3.2.7 America Movil

3.2.8 Vivo and Telefonica Hispam

3.2.9 Other mobile operators in Latin America

3.3 IoT managed service providers

3.3.1 Aeris

3.3.2 Hologram

3.3.3 KORE Wireless

3.3.4 Monogoto

3.3.5 Semtech

3.3.6 Teal

3.3.7 Telit Cinterion

3.4 LPWA networks

3.4.1 LoRa networks

3.4.2 Sigfox and network partners

4 Asia-Pacific

4.1 Regional market trends

4.1.1 China

4.1.2 Japan and South Korea

4.1.3 Australia and New Zealand

4.1.4 India

4.1.5 Southeast Asia

4.2 Mobile operators

4.2.1 China Mobile

4.2.2 China Unicom

4.2.3 China Telecom

4.2.4 KDDI

4.2.5 KT

4.2.6 NTT

4.2.7 Singtel

4.2.8 SK Telecom

4.2.9 SoftBank

4.2.10 Telstra

4.2.11 Vodafone Idea

4.3 IoT managed service providers

4.3.1 Lenovo Connect

4.3.2 Plintron

4.3.3 Quectel

4.3.4 Soracom

4.3.5 Tata Communications

4.4 LPWA networks

4.4.1 LoRa networks

4.4.2 Sigfox networks

5 Middle East & Africa

5.1 Regional market trends

5.1.1 Middle East

5.1.2 Africa

5.2 Mobile operators

5.2.1 e&

5.2.2 MTN

5.2.3 Ooredoo

5.2.4 Turkcell

5.2.5 Vodacom

5.2.6 Zain

5.3 IoT managed service providers

5.3.1 Flickswitch

5.4 LPWA networks

5.4.1 LoRa networks

5.4.2 Sigfox networks

6 Satellite IoT Communications

6.1 Introduction to satellite IoT networks

6.2 Market analysis

6.3 Satellite IoT operator market shares

6.4 European satellite operators

6.4.1 Astrocast

6.4.2 Eutelsat Group

6.4.3 Kineis

6.4.4 Lacuna Space

6.4.5 OQ Technology

6.4.6 Sateliot

6.4.7 SES

6.4.8 Additional satellite connectivity providers

6.5 North American satellite operators

6.5.1 Globalstar

6.5.2 Iridium

6.5.3 Ligado Networks

6.5.4 Lynk

6.5.5 Orbcomm

6.5.6 Skylo

6.5.7 Starlink (SpaceX)

6.5.8 Viasat (Inmarsat)

6.5.9 Additional satellite connectivity providers

6.6 Chinese satellite operators

6.6.1 CASC and CASIC

6.6.2 Commsat

6.6.3 Galaxy Space

6.6.4 Head Aerospace

6.6.5 Additional satellite connectivity providers

6.7 Rest of World satellite operators

6.7.1 Innova Space

6.7.2 Myriota

6.7.3 Plan-S

6.7.4 Thuraya

6.7.5 Additional satellite connectivity providers

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/u7hljh

Source: BUSINESS WIRE