The Far East and China will account for 22% of global cellular M2M connections by 2019, a substantial increase from 15% in 2014, according to Juniper Research.
A new research found that concerted efforts by China’s major carriers, particularly in smart metering and connected cars, will account for the rise of connected devices in China.
However, traditional M2M markets in North America and Western Europe will retain the majority of connected device revenues.
“China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile have all made strides to embrace M2M,” said research author Anthony Cox. “In many cases, they are providing end-to-end solutions, supported by systems integration and dedicated charging policies.”
The research argued that this surge has been aided by State Grid Corporation of China’s plan to spend $68.7 billion in smart grid technologies this year.
Nonetheless, in the case of smart metering, the average revenue generated per device is constrained by complexity in deployment as well as a lack of a clear business model.
Additionally, the research observed a trend from merely connected devices towards connected ecosystems. This development has in turn driven the application of big data analytics in some verticals, unlocking the potential of M2M.
The research claimed that increasing interest in “white space” spectrum would in turn enable the number of M2M modules to proliferate, due to the lower cost and power requirements of modules designed to function in this spectrum.
Juniper Research forecasts that the global M2M sector will deliver service revenues of over $40 billion by 2019.
Also, M2M in agriculture is increasing in importance for monitoring farm animals and increasing productivity through precise field-mapping.
Further, M2M will increasingly form the backhaul infrastructure necessary for emerging Internet of Things applications.