Sunday, February 27, 2022

IoT Will Not Drive as Many new WAN Connections as Often Believed

Mobile service provider interest in internet of things connections is driven in substantial part by the sheer number of projected devices to be supported.


But edge computing will sharply condition the sorts of connections required, as a majority--perhaps up to 80 percent--of those connections will be local, and many will rely on edge computing to some significant extent.


To be sure, WAN connectivity also will be involved. But the number of direct WAN connections will not be as large as many seem to believe. And WAN connections will use a variety of platforms.


IoT Analytics expects the global number of connected IoT devices to grow nine percent,  to 12.3 billion active endpoints. By 2025, there will likely be more than 27 billion IoT connections, the firm estimates. 

source: IoT Analytics


But there are lots of nuances. Perhaps 22 million of the projected 2025 connections of 27 billion will use some short-range technology, not the mobile or other specialized networks, or fixed networks. 


source: IoT Analytics


In other words, up to 80 percent of IoT connections will use local or personal area networks, not the mobile--or some other network--for access. So new revenue will be an issue, even as huge forecasts are easy to find.  


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