Juniper Research: Cellular M2M Connections to Reach 1.3 Billion by 2022, as Operators Fight for Market Share

BASINGSTOKE, England–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A new report from Juniper
Research has found that the total number of cellular M2M connections
will reach 1.3 billion by 2022, representing a 220% increase from an
estimated 400 million in 2017.

The new research, M2M:
Key Verticals, Technology Analysis & Forecasts 2018-2022, found
that emerging cellular networks, including NB-IoT, LTE-M and 5G, will
grow together to account for just under 10% of all cellular M2M
connections by 2022. Operators are now racing to provide the underlying
connectivity for the future high growth of connections, spurred on by
the enabled emerging use cases.

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– The 3 Fastest Growing Sectors

M2M: Fastest Growing Sectors

The research forecasts that the following sectors will witness the
highest growth rates in terms of cellular M2M connections over the next
4 years:

1. Smart Cities (66% CAGR)

2. Agriculture (37% CAGR)

3. Smart Meters (34% CAGR)

It found that smart city development will hugely benefit from LPWA (Low
Power Wide Area) access technologies, forecasting that over 25% of
cellular smart city devices and applications will operate over these
networks by 2022. The low cost per connection of LPWA networks and a
battery life of 10 years will become appealing for monitoring city
operations including transport and public energy infrastructure.

5G ~ The Smart City Opportunity

The research found that 5G technology will be essential in handling the
increasing data traffic generated from smart city devices. It found that
services such as traffic information and citizen gateways will generate
over 160 Petabytes of data traffic per annum in 2022; in comparison,
connected cars will generate over 7,000 Petabytes of data. In response
to this increase in cellular traffic, the report suggested that
transforming network architecture would become key to delivering the
level of smart city services that have come to be expected.

Research author Sam Barker added: “Edge computing will provide the
necessary network capabilities for the provision of services.
Decentralising network functions by moving them to the edge will
facilitate the ultra-low latency and faster processing power needed.”

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global
hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports
and industry commentary.

Contacts

Juniper Research
Sam Smith, Press Relations
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830002
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