Page 84 - SAMENA Trends - July-September 2024

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Cellular IoT Connections, Revenues to Almost Double by 2030

The number of global cellular IoT nearly 50 percent of cellular IoT revenues by momentum. As digitization and network
connections jumped 24 percent in 2023 2030, catering to high-demand applications expansion accelerate, these regions are set
to finish the year at 3.3 billion; the number including autonomous vehicles, industrial to grow their IoT subscriber bases, driven by
will increase by 88 percent (at a compound automation, and immersive smart cities, rising demand for IoT solutions.” Siddhant
growth rate of 10 percent per year) to reach it said. But connected cars, utility meters, Cally, research analyst at Counterpoint,
6.2 billion by 2030. So says Counterpoint and retail equipment, mostly POS devices, said: “We are witnessing a significant
Research, which has updated its IoT dominate, in terms of IoT applications; increase in cellular IoT use cases such
Connections Tracker to also forecast that and they will account for more than 60 as utilities and connected vehicles. Many
total revenues from cellular IoT will surpass percent of the market by the “end of 2030”. emerging nations are implementing digital
$26 billion by 2030 – which is up 90 percent “These sectors will drive the growth of transformation plans that prioritize the
from $13.7 billion in 2023, which is up 17 IoT, transforming industries with real-time deployment of public service solutions. The
percent, in turn, on 2022. The average connectivity and efficiency,” it wrote. It advent of 5G will play a crucial role in driving
revenue per user (ARPU) on cellular IoT added: “The market is highly consolidated, connectivity-based revenues, as operators
connections has continued to decline, but with the top 10 operators dominating capitalize on the potential of massive
should stabilize in the “latter part of the absolutely. This trend is expected to machine-type communications (mMTC),
decade”, said the firm. At the end of 2023, continue for a while. However, operators particularly as 2G and 3G technologies are
China retained the lion’s share (almost 70 from emerging regions are gaining phased out.”
percent) of the cellular IoT market with 2.3
billion connections; the figure, up 26 percent
on 2022’s count, surpasses the number of
mobile phone subscribers in the country.
At the same time, China only contributes
about 36 percent of global cellular IoT
revenues. Mohit Agrawal, research director
at Counterpoint, commented: “China
continues to roll out low-cost IoT plans
for rapid deployment. A sizable portion of
connections in China operate on 2G and
NB-IoT networks, with ARPUs lower than
$2.2 per year. Looking ahead, we expect
ARPUs to stabilize, particularly with the
advent of 5G and growth of 4G Cat-1 bis
solutions as China will continue to expand
its connections into the automotive,
smart meters, and smart retail sectors.”
Counterpoint expects 5G to account for

China Has Invested $6.1 Billion in Data Center Projects, Govt Says

China has invested more than 43.5 billion lower data demand. The $6,1 billion invest- ing to boost the capacity of inland areas to
yuan ($6.1 billion) in data center invest- ment includes the deployment of three store and manage data. China also has
ment over the past two years, according to server hubs on China’s populous east coast plans to create 10 national data center
an official statement. The funds have paid and five hubs in China’s central/western clusters as part of this broader effort. The
for the construction eight computing hubs corridor. Speaking at a big data expo in push comes as the country has faced tight
as part of China’s “East Data, West Comput- Guiyang, in southwest China’s Guizhou sanctions from the US, which have included
ing” initiative, launched in 2022 by Chinese Province, Liu Liehong, the head of the Na- exports of some advanced computing
National Development and Reform Com- tional Data Administration, reported that products. As computing power is emerging
mission (NDRC). The concept involves stor- total investments linked to the hubs deploy- as a vital productive force in the digital
ing data in the more economically devel- ment had surpassed 200 billion yuan ($28.2 economy, Liu explained that China will sup-
oped eastern regions of China, where billion). He also mentioned that the number port cities in exploring new approaches
digital and industrial activity is concentrat- of data center racks now exceeds 1.95 mil- over the next few years to determine the
ed, and processing it in the western regions, lion. This project is a critical element of most effective solutions for data infrastruc-
which have plenty of land and energy but China’s digital infrastructure strategy, aim- ture development countrywide.

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