The “Cellular and LPWA IoT Device Ecosystems – 6th Edition” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.
The Internet of Things is weaving a new worldwide web of interconnected objects. As of Q1-2022, about 2.5 billion devices were connected to wide area networks based on cellular or LPWA technologies. The market is highly diverse and divided into multiple ecosystems. The analyst forecasts that annual shipments of cellular and non-3GPP LPWA IoT modules will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.2 percent from 507 million units in 2021 to 1.2 billion units in 2026. Get up to date with the latest trends from all main regions and vertical markets with this unique 160 page report.
Highlights from the report
- 360-degree overview of the main IoT wide area networking ecosystems.
- Comparison of technologies and standards.
- Updated profiles of the main suppliers of IoT chipsets and modules.
- Cellular IoT module market data for 2021.
- Adoption trends for LPWA technologies including NB-IoT, LTE-M, LoRa and Sigfox.
- Cellular and non-3GPP LPWA IoT device market forecasts until 2026.
The year 2021 was a breakout year for the cellular IoT module industry
According to this research report, annual shipments of cellular IoT modules increased by 39 percent in 2021 to reach 428 million units. Annual revenues grew faster at 54 percent to reach US$ 5.3 billion, reflecting strong customer demand in a constrained supply environment. Even though the supply shortage likely has caused some inventory build-ups, several vendors have reported continued strong growth in the first quarter of 2022, suggesting that short-term demand remains robust.
The results of the latest cellular IoT module vendor market share assessment show that the five largest cellular module vendors, including Quectel, Fibocom, Sunsea AIoT, Thales and Telit, hold 68 percent of the market in terms of revenues. Overall, the year 2021 was a record year for the cellular IoT module industry, in which all major vendors achieved double-digit growth. China-based vendors continue to outgrow the market, in part due to the significant growth in the domestic IoT market, which now accounts for more than 55 percent of global cellular module demand.
4G LTE is the dominant technology as LTE Cat-1, NB-IoT and LTE-M replace 2G and 3G technologies in the low to mid market segments. LTE Cat-1 module shipments close to tripled in the year, driven by strong uptake in China, where chipsets from domestic suppliers supporting the single antenna version LTE Cat-1 bis are roughly half the price compared to standard LTE Cat-1 platforms. Adoption of LTE Cat-1 in the country comes somewhat at the expense of NB-IoT shipments that recorded slowing growth year-on-year. Similar to the previous year, NB-IoT module shipments were largely confined to China. Internationally, NB-IoT module shipments are in the single-digit millions with demand primarily driven by smart gas meter and smart water meter deployments.
LTE Cat-1 modules also account for a major share of the volume in North America, Europe and parts of the Asia-Pacific region, though LTE-M is viewed as an increasingly attractive alternative for IoT devices with stricter requirements on power consumption and long lifecycle. As both LTE-M and NB-IoT are 5G-ready, they are suitable for IoT devices that will stay in the field for more than 10 years, which may prove critical as mobile operators in advanced markets will start to sunset their 4G LTE networks near the end of the decade. LTE-M module shipments today far exceeds NB-IoT shipments outside of China. The ability to perform over-the-air software upgrades of LTE-M devices has proven to be the key factor for the technology’s success compared to NB-IoT.
5G NR module shipments are starting to take off across product categories such as connected cars and IoT gateways. 3GPP’s latest Release 17 introduced 5G NR support for reduced capability (RedCap) devices, expanding 5G NR to less complex IoT devices for higher-end applications that require faster speeds compared to LTE-M or NB-IoT. The technology will function as a replacement for LTE Cat-4 and LTE Cat-6 devices such as wearables, telematics gateways, industrial meters and alarm panels. Enhanced RedCap (eRedCap) that is part of 3GPP Release 18 will offer improved energy efficiency and provide a migration path for LTE Cat-1 designs.
Who should read this report?
Cellular and LPWA IoT Device Ecosystems is the foremost source of information about all the major wide area networking technologies for the Internet of Things. Whether you are a chipset or module vendor, software vendor, utility, vehicle manufacturer, telecom operator, investor, consultant, or government agency, you will gain valuable insights from this in-depth research.
Key Topics Covered:
1 Wide area networks for the Internet of Things
1.1 Which things will be connected to wide area networks?
1.2 What are the technology options?
1.3 Which are the leading technology ecosystems?
2 3GPP ecosystem
2.1 Technology characteristics
2.1.1 3GPP Release 13 – Introducing LTE-M and NB-IoT
2.1.2 3GPP Release 14 – IoT enhancements and C-V2X
2.1.3 3GPP Release 15 – The first phase of 5G specifications
2.1.4 3GPP Release 16 – URLLC enhancements, IIoT features and 5G NR C-V2X
2.1.5 3GPP Release 17 – RedCap and non-terrestrial network communications
2.1.6 Network footprint
2.1.7 2G mobile networks
2.1.8 3G/4G mobile networks
2.1.9 4G/5G mobile IoT networks (LTE-M and NB-IoT)
2.1.10 5G mobile networks
2.2 Semiconductor vendors
2.3 Module vendors
3 LoRa and LoRaWAN ecosystem
3.1 Technology characteristics
3.2 Network footprint
3.3 Semiconductor and module vendors
3.3.1 Semtech
3.3.2 Other semiconductor vendors
3.3.3 LoRa module vendors
4 Sigfox ecosystem
4.1 Technology characteristics
4.2 Network footprint
4.2.1 Europe
4.2.2 The Americas
4.2.3 Asia-Pacific
4.2.4 Middle East & Africa
4.2.5 Global satellite coverage planned in collaboration with Eutelsat
4.2.6 Examples of major Sigfox use cases
4.3 Semiconductor and module vendors
4.3.1 Semiconductor vendors
4.3.2 Sigfox module vendors
5 Emerging LPWA ecosystems
5.1 IEEE 802.15.4
5.1.1 Connectivity stacks based on 802.15.4
5.1.2 Network footprint
5.2 Wirepas Mesh
5.3 DECT-2020 NR
5.4 Mioty
5.5 Chipset and module vendors
6 Vertical market segments
6.1 Motor vehicles
6.1.1 OEM connected car applications
6.1.2 Aftermarket connected car applications
6.1.3 Connected commercial vehicle applications
6.2 Energy & Infrastructure
6.3 Industry & Transport
6.4 Healthcare
6.5 Other
7 Market forecasts and trends
7.1 Market summary
7.2 3GPP family
7.3 LoRa
7.4 Sigfox
7.5 Emerging LPWA technologies
Companies Mentioned
- ASR Microelectronics
- Cheerzing
- China Mobile IoT
- Eigencomm
- Fibocom
- Gosuncn WeLink
- Intel
- MediaTek
- MeiG Smart Technology
- MLINK
- Murata
- Neoway
- Nordic Semiconductor
- Qualcomm
- Quectel
- Rolling Wireless
- Samsung Electronics
- Sequans Communications
- Sierra Wireless
- Sony
- Sunsea AIoT (SIMCom & Longsung)
- Telit
- Thales
- u-blox
- UNISOC
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pyi7pt
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