London, UK. February 23, 2012 — Specialist M2M research firm Machina Research yesterday revealed its inaugural M2M Leaderboard, a ranking of the top 20 global mobile network operators (MNOs) based on their expected revenue from mobile M2M in 2020.
Between them, these top 20 global MNOs will secure approaching EUR25 billion in revenue from M2M applications in 2020, acording to the research firm.
Machina Research’s M2M Leaderboard, February 2012 shows mobile network operators with the following rankings:
1 – Vodafone
2 – Deutsche Telekom
3 – AT&T
4 – Verizon Wireless
5 – Telefonica
6 – China Mobile
7 – China Unicom
8 – Orange
9 – Sprint
10 – Telenor
11 – NTT DoCoMo
12 – KPN
13 – Singtel
14 – KDDI
15 – Softbank
16 – Vimpelcom
17 – Telecom Italia
18 – Everything Everywhere
19 – TeliaSonera
20 – Etisalat
This ranking builds on the qualitative analysis of the global M2M opportunity that Machina Research has identified in its Connected Intelligence forecast database and its qualitative analysis of the M2M-related capabilities of each of the global MNOs, as illustrated in its ‘Machine-to-Machine Communications Service Provider Benchmarking 2012’ report published in January which analysed the capabilities of the top global M2M CSPs.
Commenting on the result, Machina Research Director Matt Hatton (pictured) said: “The top 10 MNOs represent Machina Research’s Premier League of M2M CSPs. Vodafone tops the table followed closely by Deutsche Telekom and AT&T. The next rank of MNOs includes Verizon Wireless, Telefonica/O2 and China Mobile. The third grouping comprises China Unicom, Orange and Sprint. Telenor makes up the top 10, well ahead of the second tier of global players”.
Hatton sees two major conclusions from the research: “It’s clear that when looking to generate revenue from M2M it’s massively beneficial to have access to either the US or Chinese markets, which between them account for almost 40% of M2M revenue in 2020. All of the major operators in these markets make it into the top 10. The other thing that stands out is the importance of global alliances. Most of the biggest players in the top 10 have developed strategic alliances to better address global demand.”
The main global groupings are Vodafone and Verizon Wireless (in which Vodafone holds a 45% stake), Deutsche Telekom’s burgeoning alliance with Orange and Telia Sonera (and including Everything Everywhere, Orange and DT’s 50/50 UK joint venture), and Telefonica’s alliance with Etisalat and China Unicom.
The M2M Leaderboard will be updated regularly to reflect developments in the M2M field as they occur, such as strategic alliances, merger and acquisition (M&A) activity and other M2M-related initiatives.
As Hatton notes: “We’re expecting a lot of M2M-related announcements at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week. One of the reasons for publishing this first iteration of the M2M Leaderboard today is to allow us to weigh up the impact that all of those MWC announcements will have on the major MNO’s ability to profit from the growth in machine-to-machine. We will keep updating the ranking throughout the year”.
