Ovum forecasts that M2M revenues will reach US$44.8bn in the next 5 years, with more than a third of this revenue coming from Asia-Pacific. Total global M2M connections will more than treble from 106.4 million in 2012 to 360.9 million in 2018, at a CAGR of 22.6 percent. Ovum further projects that the revenues in Asia-Pacific will be fastest growing, reaching to almost US$15bn, at a CAGR of 26.5 percent, between 2012 and 2018. It also says that the most important industry verticals in 2018 will be healthcare, manufacturing, and energy & utilities, which are forecast to generate revenues of US$7.9bn, US$7.1bn, and US$7bn respectively by 2018.
“This is not a forecast of the ‘Internet of Things’ but rather of managed and paid-for connections over public mobile networks, ”says Jeremy Green, Principal Analyst, Industry Communications and Broadband at Ovum. “For telcos there are really two opportunities: to stand back and provide the connectivity for M2M services, or to roll up their sleeves and get involved with the end-to-end provision of solutions.”
“If a carrier wants to play an essential part as a connectivity provider and focus just on that role, it must have healthy and robust relationships with device manufacturers and SIs,” explains Green. “If a carrier sees itself as an end-to-end provider, its partnering relations are even more critical, because it is unlikely to be heard at the CxO level within an enterprise client unless it is working with a global SI.” Read More ''Ovum outlines operators’ M2M opportunities as it forecasts revenues will more than treble over the next five years'