Cellular IoT connections to hit 2.4bn by 2025 – Strategy Analytics

New research from Strategy Analytics estimates the number of cellular IoT connections will increase to 2.4 billion in 2025.

The growth itself will primarily be fuelled by the automotive, utilities and security segments, accounting for over 46% of the total global IoT cellular connections by 2025. The Automotive segment will not only retain its position at the top of the pile, but will increase its market share throughout the period also.

The surge in connections demonstrates the importance of cellular networks in the march towards IoT. Demand is now leaning towards the transmission of rich data as opposed to simple connections, as more traditional companies, such as the utilities and automotive brands, aim to capitalize on the digital economy to provide customers with an improved experience.

“With the industry focusing on the path to 5G and low power 3GPP offerings, such as LTE Cat M1 and NB IoT, coupled with a variety of established connectivity platforms, there are lots of choices for cellular connectivity in IoT and the outlook has never been brighter,” said Andrew Brown, Executive Director of Enterprise and IoT Research.

“However, the bewildering array of choices also runs the risk of creating confusion for customers with regard to which technologies should be employed in which use cases.”

From a regional perspective, Asia-Pacific is expected to lead the way. Here, the team estimate the total could be as high as one billion connections, which is perhaps unsurprising when you take into consideration where growth markets are and the size of the populations. Asia Pacific, North America, and Western Europe as a group is expected to account for 75% of the total connections.