A new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight indicates that the number of cellular network connections used for machine-to-machine communication will grow from 37.5 million connections in 2007 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.9 percent to 186 million connections in 2012. Currently, GSM and legacy technologies dominate the market and accounted for about 71 percent of the total number of active connections at the end of 2007. The second largest technology, CDMA, has a strong foothold in North America and parts of Asia-Pacific. So far, WCDMA has been primary adopted for machine-to-machine applications in Japan. Elsewhere, high component costs and limited network coverage has held back adoption.
Berg Insight found that machine-to-machine applications today in general are between 1 – 3 percent of the reported number of mobile subscribers in developed markets. In Sweden and Finland the share is closer to 10 percent due to extensive use of GPRS for meter reading applications. However, Berg Insight forecasts that vehicle telematic applications will dominate the machine-to-machine cellular market in most parts of the world and will account for more than half of all network connections in 2012. “Safety and security concerns, which are manifested either in public regulations or customer preferences, are tipping the balance in favor of massive rollouts of telematic applications by the global automotive industry,” said Tobias Ryberg, senior analyst, Berg Insight. “In North America, OnStar already gives peace of mind to millions of drivers. Europe is well on the way to introducing the eCall automatic emergency call system and several Latin American countries are considering mandatory tracking devices on all new cars to combat epidemic vehicle crime.”
About Berg Insight
Berg Insight offers premier business intelligence to the telecom industry. They produce concise reports providing key facts and strategic insights about pivotal developments in your focus areas. Their vision is to be the most valuable source of intelligence for our customers.