IoT rollout in hands of 10 operators

It may be boom time for IoT but it’s a boom shared by very operators. According to a new report from research company Berg Insight, just 10 companies are benefiting from this drive to adopt the new technology.

The company found that these 10 firms have a whopping 76% share of the cellular IoT market – currently standing at more than 400 connections.

Given the level of investment from China, it’s no surprise that the company with the lion’s share of the market is China Mobile with 150 million IoT connections, Vodafone takes second place with 50 million connections, while AT&T and China Telecom are ranked fourth and fifth. Deutsche Telekom, Softbank/Sprint, Verizon, Telefónica and Telenor complete the set.

“The Chinese mobile operators achieved tremendous volume growth in 2017, driven by accelerating uptake of cellular IoT in the domestic market”, says Tobias Ryberg, senior analyst at Berg Insight and author of the report. “China Mobile is believed to have reached 200 million cellular IoT connections at the end of 2017”.

More revenue

The Western mobile operators actually earn more revenue than their Chinese counterparts. Berg Insight expects that at least three operator groups – AT&T, Verizon and Vodafone – will generate more than US$ 1 billion in revenues from IoT in 2018. “The main strategy for growing IoT revenues is vertical plays in major application areas,” said Ryberg.