M2M Connected Devices Market Growing Rapidly Says New Beecham Research Report

Cellular modules to reach $2.2B in 2019: Wireless Terminals to grow even faster

A new report from Beecham Research predicts rapid growth in the sales of M2M cellular modules and wireless terminals to end 2019, with volumes shipped reaching 154% and 166% of 2014 levels, respectively. Cellular M2M modules are expected to reach $2.2B in sales in 2019.

Despite the move to 3G and 4G and talk of 5G, Beecham Research says that 2G modules will continue to provide for the majority of new M2M connected devices for the next few years. This is particularly the case in Europe where there are no plans to end 2G services. But while 2G module shipments will continue to increase in volume over the period, as a percentage of total shipments they will decline from almost 80% in 2014 to just 50% by 2019.

Over 90% of new cellular M2M connections are made using a module built directly into products such as smart meters, security alarms, medical devices, parking meters and connected cars systems. Compared with that, wireless terminals are defined in the report as general purpose stand-alone devices with one or more cellular network connections, such as modems, routers and gateways.

“The increasing sophistication of M2M applications is driving the need for higher speeds, including real time video in security and connected car markets and the addition of service layers on telematics applications such as job scheduling and mobile payment systems,” says David Parker, senior analyst at Beecham Research and author of the report.

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