US, China drive mobile operator M2M opportunity - analyst

The top 20 mobile operators in the machine-to-machine communications space will together generate €25 billion in revenues from M2M applications in 2020, but some will account for a much larger percentage of that revenue opportunity than others, according to new figures from Machina Research.
"There's very definitely a top three," Machina Research director Matt Hatton told Total Telecom on Thursday.

Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and AT&T - in that order – together account for 35% of the top 20, Hatton said, adding that the top three are close together in terms of the revenues they are expected to generate.

Verizon Wireless, Telefonica and China Mobile are also close to one another in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively, as are the third grouping of China Unicom, Orange and Sprint, with Telenor making up the top 10.

There is a big gap in revenue terms between the top 10 and NTT DoCoMo in 11th place, Hatton explained. "The revenue falls off massively as you go down the top 20... The top seven operators will account for half the M2M revenue generated in the world [in 2020]," he said.

"It's clear [from the research] that when looking to generate revenue from M2M it's hugely beneficial to have access to either the U.S. or Chinese markets, which between them account for almost 40% of M2M revenue in 2020," Hatton went on. "All of the major operators in these markets make it into the top 10."
He also noted that global alliances will be key to performing well in this market.

Vodafone, for example, will benefit from its stake in Verizon Wireless, while Deutsche Telekom has formed an M2M partnership with Orange and TeliaSonera, while Telefonica is working with Etisalat and China Unicom.

---