The study identified the growth of 5G and cellular LPWA (low-power wide area) technologies as key to this increase over the next four years. The researchers anticipate that the low cost of both connectivity and hardware will drive adoption for remote monitoring in key verticals, such as agriculture, smart cities and manufacturing.
In turn, LPWA connections are expected to grow 1,200 per cent over the next four years. As such, the report urged operators to migrate IoT connections on legacy networks to networks that support LPWA technologies.
Research co-author Charles Bowman explained, “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.”
In addition, the report predicted that 5G IoT services will generate $9 billion of revenue by 2026; rising from $800 million in 2021. To capitalise on this growth, the study recommends operators offer value-added services, such as network slicing and edge computing, to IoT users to maximise the value of 5G adoption.
The full study, Cellular IoT: Strategies, Opportunities and Market Forecasts 2022-2026, is available online.