Berg Insight says global cellular IoT connections grew 22% to reach 2.1bn in 2021

Gothenburg, Sweden. 15 July 2022 – A new report from the IoT market research firm Berg Insight says that the global number of cellular IoT subscribers increased by 22% during 2021 to reach 2.1 billion. The major regional markets China, Western Europe and North America grew similarly during the year as the world recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2026, Berg Insight now projects that there will be 4.3 billion IoT devices connected to cellular networks worldwide.

The top ten mobile operators reported a combined active base of 1.8 billion cellular IoT connections at the end of 2021, accounting for 86% of total connections. China Mobile is provider of cellular IoT connectivity services with an estimated 801 million cellular IoT connections. China Unicom and China Telecom ranked second and third with 300 million and 297 million connections respectively.

Vodafone ranked first among the Western operators and fourth overall with 142 million connections, followed by AT&T with 95 million in fifth place. Deutsche Telekom and Verizon had in the range of 45–55 million cellular IoT connections each, when counting T-Mobile USA’s customers as part of DT‘s IoT subscriber base. Telefonica, KDDI and Orange were the last players in the top ten with about 31 million, 23 million and 20 million connections respectively. The year-on-year growth rates for the largest operators were in the span of 0–41%.

IoT connectivity services account for around 1% of total revenues for most operator groups. Berg Insight’s analysis of the IoT business KPIs released by mobile operators in different parts of the world suggests that global IoT connectivity revenues increased by around 15% during 2020, while the monthly APRU dropped by 2% to € 0.38.

The shift to embedded SIMs, or eSIMs, is currently one of the strongest trends within the IoT connectivity market. Automotive OEMs stand out as early adopters of the technology, which is now experiencing broad uptake across a range of vertical markets. Leveraging the benefits of the two existing eSIM specifications M2M and Consumer GSMA’s new IoT specification is set to further accelerate uptake of the technology as it will eliminate the need for integrations between mobile operators and provide greater flexibility for IoT solution providers.

Download report brochure: The Global M2M/IoT Communications Market

Comment on this article below or via Twitter: @IoTNow_OR @jcIoTnow

RECENT ARTICLES

Quantinuum raises US$300m in equity funding

Posted on: April 18, 2024

Honeywell has announced the closing of a US$300 million equity fundraise for Quantinuum at a pre-money valuation of US$5bn. The round is anchored by Quantinuum’s partner JPMorgan Chase, with additional participation from Mitsui, Amgen and Honeywell, which remains the company’s majority shareholder. This investment brings the total capital raised by Quantinuum since inception to approximately

Read more

ITRI and Arm launch new SystemReady Lab in Taipei to boost AIoT industry

Posted on: April 18, 2024

ITRI has established the ITRI・Arm SystemReady Lab in Taipei, in partnership with Arm. This certification centre is the fourth of its kind globally, following the ones in the United States, Europe and India. The lab combines ITRI’s R&D strengths with the Arm SystemReady compliance programme to deliver comprehensive certification services for the AIoT industry. This

Read more
FEATURED IoT STORIES

What is IoT? A Beginner’s Guide

Posted on: April 5, 2023

What is IoT? IoT, or the Internet of Things, refers to the connection of everyday objects, or “things,” to the internet, allowing them to collect, transmit, and share data. This interconnected network of devices transforms previously “dumb” objects, such as toasters or security cameras, into smart devices that can interact with each other and their

Read more

The IoT Adoption Boom – Everything You Need to Know

Posted on: September 28, 2022

In an age when we seem to go through technology boom after technology boom, it’s hard to imagine one sticking out. However, IoT adoption, or the Internet of Things adoption, is leading the charge to dominate the next decade’s discussion around business IT. Below, we’ll discuss the current boom, what’s driving it, where it’s going,

Read more

9 IoT applications that will change everything

Posted on: September 1, 2021

Whether you are a future-minded CEO, tech-driven CEO or IT leader, you’ve come across the term IoT before. It’s often used alongside superlatives regarding how it will revolutionize the way you work, play, and live. But is it just another buzzword, or is it the as-promised technological holy grail? The truth is that Internet of

Read more

Which IoT Platform 2021? IoT Now Enterprise Buyers’ Guide

Posted on: August 30, 2021

There are several different parts in a complete IoT solution, all of which must work together to get the result needed, write IoT Now Enterprise Buyers’ Guide – Which IoT Platform 2021? authors Robin Duke-Woolley, the CEO and Bill Ingle, a senior analyst, at Beecham Research. Figure 1 shows these parts and, although not all

Read more

CAT-M1 vs NB-IoT – examining the real differences

Posted on: June 21, 2021

As industry players look to provide the next generation of IoT connectivity, two different standards have emerged under release 13 of 3GPP – CAT-M1 and NB-IoT.

Read more

IoT and home automation: What does the future hold?

Posted on: June 10, 2020

Once a dream, home automation using iot is slowly but steadily becoming a part of daily lives around the world. In fact, it is believed that the global market for smart home automation will reach $40 billion by 2020.

Read more

5 challenges still facing the Internet of Things

Posted on: June 3, 2020

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become a huge part of how people live, communicate and do business. All around the world, web-enabled devices are turning our world into a more switched-on place to live.

Read more