Telecom operators AT&T, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Sprint, Telefonica, Telenor, Verizon and Vodafone are the top 10 machine-to-machine (M2M) service providers based on cellular M2M connections, said Infonetics Research.
China Mobile is the global M2M connections leader, with over 32 million M2M connections served in 2013. China Mobile M2M connections rose 43 percent from 2012.
Large U.S. M2M market coupled with global roaming agreements has enabled AT&T to become the second largest M2M service provider.
Vodafone is in the third position, owing to its global presence, breadth of operations, and homegrown connectivity platform.
Currently, the most popular vertical M2M segment among service providers is automotive / transport / logistics.
The services built upon mobile M2M modules, such as fleet management and connected car, are already a sizeable business and are growing much faster than traditional business lines.
Infonetics Research said the market will accelerate beginning in 2015 as M2M services inflect and module sales shift toward higher-ARPU 3G and 4G systems, ultimately just about doubling to $2.9 billion in 2018.
Focus is a critical thing for the success of telecom operators. The report said M2M and Internet of Things are big markets.
“Focus means understanding the nature of M2M services and the importance of enabling technologies such as connectivity and application platforms purpose-built for M2M, like those from Axeda and Jasper. Platforms are essential to scaling and differentiating services and bringing solutions to market faster, allowing monetization to begin at an earlier stage,” said Godfrey Chua, directing analyst for M2M and IoT at Infonetics Research.
Earlier Infonetics Research said the global mobile machine-to-machine module market rose 6 percent to $1.4 billion in 2013.
2G remains a key foundation, comprising the majority of units shipped in 2013, though with the shift toward broadband technologies, Infonetics expects 3G to grow to 67 percent of mobile M2M module revenue by 2018
LTE is the most dynamic and fastest-growing technology segment, with a 2013–2018 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of a very robust 144 percent.
North America and Europe are the centers of mobile M2M module growth, but buoyed by significant investments in China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, Asia Pacific is catching up and is expected to account for a third of total revenue by 2018.
Sierra Wireless, Gemalto/Cinterion, and Telit dominate the M2M module space, together accounting for nearly two-thirds of total market revenue, with a combined total of almost a billion dollars in module sales.
Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE are rising and creating intense pricing pressure in emerging markets in Asia and other parts of the world.
Baburajan K
