There will be 24 Million IoT Connections By 2024 - ABI Research

Internet of Things is growing with a steady pace in today’s time and there is no questioning as to what the future holds for it. With the introduction of 5G and Wi-Fi 6, which are built solely for IoT and Big Data, we are inching closer to the transformation of the “smart future”.
The new satellite constellations are being launched and there is a hope that this would help in improving the connectivity options of the IoT market. With these deployments, many applications would eventually benefit due to the large coverage it will provide.

The global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research’s Harriet Sumnall says that by 2024 there will be 24 million IoT connections made not via 5G or Wi-Fi 6 but actually but via satellite.

  

    “Terrestrial cellular networks only cover 20% of the Earth’s surface, while satellite networks can cover the entire surface of the globe, from pole to pole. The expansion of the satellite constellations that are currently in orbit and those due to take place will allow for connectivity to be more global. While the market using satellite connection is still immature, it shows great opportunities for growth.”

With such transitions to be seen, various applications will be affected inclusive of asset tracking and the two most important markets that lie in the satellite space maritime and aviation tracking. The reason behind them being so dependant on the satellite space is the lack of terrestrial infrastructure that is available in their location.
Like Aerial & Maritime, some vendors provide the ship tracking AIS and cost-effective aircraft surveillance ADS-B using nano-satellites and in this field of thought, satellites have been a game-changing technology with its high-end tracking capabilities in a cost-efficient manner. In the coming time, it is expected to see Software Defined Radio technology with the possibility that non-satellites can be used for these actions.

The big names in the satellite providers, such as Globalstar and Inmarsat, are facing new competition from the start-ups like Amazon and SpaceX which are launching Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites: which are currently costly for the set-up but in the long run they will result in being cost-effective from larger traditional satellites providing the coverage that other vendors are offering.

 

Sumnall says that with these offerings, the traditional satellite providers will have to rethink their strategies and will have to drive their prices down to come back in the competition with these newcomers.

    “Once the market becomes more successful and has matured, the pricing strategies will drop overall, allowing the satellite IoT connectivity options to compete against terrestrial connectivity options.”