IHS Study Finds Global M2M Connections Rising Quickly

Data from a study by market watcher IHS showed that worldwide cellular machine-to-machine (M2M) connections are expected to rise to about 326 million by 2016 from about 107 million connections in 2011. With key growth areas approaching point of saturation and the core mobile voice/data services market on the path of maturity, the report indicates that mobile companies are also expanding into the cellular M2M market.

According to this report, key factors driving the M2M market include government regulatory initiatives and the desire by corporate adopters to increase efficiency and develop new revenue models. Other factors responsible for driving M2M include the increasing number of tools and platforms that help to facilitate cellular M2M application development and the declining costs of components and services.

As per the report, managed connectivity accounts for only 10 to 30 percent of the overall market.

IMS Research senior principal analyst Sam Lucero, said, “Mobile operators are not simply providing managed connectivity services to the cellular M2M market but increasingly are 'connecting the dots' among M2M ecosystem players, including suppliers and developers - and this benefits the market as a whole.”

Lucero added, "Examples of this proactive role by mobile operators range from establishing module supply programs to developing partnerships with platform vendors and solution suppliers to reduce overall complexity in the value chain."

As reported, the study finds that mobile operators are now setting up M2M business units, deploying connection management platforms (CMP) and taking a leading role in coordinating the cellular M2M value chain at multiple levels.

Plus, they are offering managed connectivity services to M2M application service providers (ASPs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and corporate adopters. Thus, expanding the mobile operators' own share of the M2M value stack.