IoT is expected to grow significantly over the next five years, with Gartner predicting more than 20 billion connected devices will be in use by 2020. It has also been seen as a strong revenue opportunity for carriers, with several breaking out IoT revenue figures during financial reports.
Vodafone and Verizon, for example, both generated around €200 million each in direct IoT sales during Q3 2016. Berg claims 2017 will see some individual operators topping the €1 billion revenue mark from IoT alone.
Berg Insight analyst Tobias Ryberg, who authored the report, said: "Until recently, the principal financial metrics for IoT has been projected, not actual, revenues. Now the market has entered a new phase in which hard business facts take precedent over lofty projections.”
"Wireless connectivity is now near ubiquitous and there will be half a billion cellular IoT connections in 2017, but revenues are still relatively small.”
Berg Insight estimates that the global monthly ARPU for cellular IoT devices was € 1.40 in 2016. There were significant variations between different regions, from less than € 0.30 in some emerging economies to over € 3.00 in less competitive developed markets.
