Value Added Services and Vertical Market Choices Will Determine Operator Winners and Losers in the $31 Billion M2M Services Market

Value Added Services and Vertical Market Choices Will Determine Operator Winners and Losers in the $31 Billion M2M Services Market

Although operators have relied mostly on connection ARPUs for M2M revenues, network connectivity and connection management revenues represent only 10% to 30% of the M2M value chain dependent upon carrier and geographic location.

Value added services for application development, enablement, provisioning, management, and system integration are the bulk of the M2M services opportunity in this growing market that is set to reach $31 billion by 2016.

M2M practice director, Dan Shey, states:

“No one size fits all. Operator choices to capture the burgeoning M2M services market will be dependent not only on the value of their assets and VAS platforms, but also their partnerships and target market verticals.”

For instance, connecting coffee machines may be a near term opportunity but can it grow to a global opportunity? Commercial video surveillance solutions may provide higher ARPUs due to bandwidth requirements but is this better than the lower bandwidth, but larger volume home security market? Operator partnerships may extend regional market coverage but will businesses get the same service quality and support?

Fortunately, VAS services platforms can help operators address more than one market need. Verizon bought telematics service provider Hughes Telematics with the intention to extend the use of the platform to non- telematics verticals such as mHealth, asset tracking, and home automation. Operators who also leverage their cloud assets, such as with application delivery, lower the barrier to entry and encourage greater vertical market participation.

Craig Foster, principal analyst, M2M added:
Operators that seek to understand the evolution of vertical adoption across services, requirements for tailored applications, and the value and need for network connectivity will be the big winners in the M2M market.

Related posts