There’s long-term growth potential for operators in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.
That’s the finding of Pyramid Research in a new report. The researcher expects the number of cellular M2M subscriptions to quadruple between 2010 and 2016, going from 72 million last year to 282 million just five years from now.
But Pyramid warns that operators will have their hands full addressing many factors of M2M; the diversity of the market makes it a challenging one. It serves many vertical industries with a range of devices across multiple networks.
"Growth is driven by a number of different factors, including new regulations, a variety of business models, innovations, falling hardware costs and technological developments," says Pyramid Research Analyst at Large, Jan ten Sythoff.
ten Sythoff says coverage is one of the most important factors that position an operator well in the M2M market, meaning the largest network operators are typically best-positioned to take advantage of the opportunity. "Operators with the best coverage, excellent international roaming agreements, strong platform partnerships and an established position in the business market are best placed to gain from the M2M opportunity," he said.
Looking for more? This month’s B/OSS Digital Issue focuses on M2M and its increasing impact on revenue management and telecom fraud.
