Wireless communications providers will need to beef up their networks – and fast – suggests a new report from Compass Intelligence, an IT and telecommunications analyst group. Cellular Internet of Things (IoT) connections for business purposes will balloon to 145.6 million links by 2020, after expanding compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.7 percent, predicts […]
Wireless communications providers will need to beef up their networks – and fast – suggests a new report from Compass Intelligence, an IT and telecommunications analyst group.
Cellular Internet of Things (IoT) connections for business purposes will balloon to 145.6 million links by 2020, after expanding compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.7 percent, predicts the firm. In 2014, there were 20.3 million such connections, 9 million of which were devoted to fleet and portable asset tracking.
In five years, the market will look very different. “In 2020, retail applications such as vending, PoS [point of sale], transaction terminals and digital signage are expected to be the largest applications with the expectation of more advertising and the need for quick updates to content,” said the company.
Compass Intelligence’s outlook aligns with a recent forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC) stating the IoT market will grow 19 percent this year. The world’s retailers, looking to “digitize the customer experience,” will push the digital signage market to $27.5 billion by 2018, compared to $6 billion in 2013.
Verizon, meanwhile, is bracing for a massive amount of IoT traffic.
Backed by data from ABI Research, the telecommunications giant said in February that by 2020, there will be 5.4 billion business-to-business (B2B) IoT connections in use. The increased demand is already having an effect on the company’s cellular network. Verizon reported that its 4G LTE activations grew by 135 percent last year on the strength of its IoT business division.
“The IoT market is revealing itself to really focus on businesses, rather than consumers,” observed Keith Robinson, director of M2M and IoT Research and Consulting at Compass Intelligence. And only by collaborating with business IT giants will IoT solutions providers find their fortunes in this burgeoning market.
“To be successful in the industry, vendors and service providers must work with enterprise management software powerhouses to develop solutions that integrate all aspects of a business with IoT,” Robinson said.
Consumers will also drive up cellular IoT use, although not to the extent of businesses, said Compass Intelligence.
Connected cars helped the consumer space rack up 21.7 million cellular IoT connections in 2014. By 2020, consumers will account for 57.5 million cellular IoT links, due primarily to the growing popularity of the smart home.
Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
December 16, 2020
AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
December 11, 2020
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to Datamation, eWEEK, and the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro.
Datamation is the leading industry resource for B2B data professionals and technology buyers. Datamation's focus is on providing insight into the latest trends and innovation in AI, data security, big data, and more, along with in-depth product recommendations and comparisons. More than 1.7M users gain insight and guidance from Datamation every year.
Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.
