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Narrowband Internet of Things (IoT) Market


Information & Communications Technology
Mobility & Telecom

MarketsandMarkets forecasts the global Narrowband IoT market size to grow from USD 320.5 million in 2017 to USD 8221.3 million by 2022, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 91.3% from 2017 to 2022. Growing demand for Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) use cases across verticals, high deployment flexibility with GSM, WCDMA, or LTE,extended coverage and long battery life, low deployment cost are some of the general driving factors for NB-IoT market.

The NB-IoT enterprise application market is broadly classified by vertical into Agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and utilities, transport and logistics, retail and others. The energy and utilities sector commands the major market share and is the fastest growing vertical in this market as it is considered an important element in the day to day means and use. Energy resources needed to be utilized in an optimized manner as scarcity will with not only affect the present but also the future.

Smart parking management solution is expected to dominate the application software segment in the narrowband IoT market as the number of vehicles are increasing day by day, smartly parking would help the management of vehicles, utilizing the parking space in an optimized way with the help of NB-IoT application software.

Professional services are expected to lead the market and managed services is expected to carry the highest CAGR in the services segment as these services assist companies in developing firm strategies and provide resources that allow them to manage the technology at a lower cost. Until recently, a majority of managed services have been adopted for very specific needs, but more competitors are ramping up to offer enterprise service models.

Smart metering will be leading the market and asset tracking is expected to be the fastest growing market in the NB-IoT smart application market as wireless asset tracking, sensing and control of products would provide a round-the-clock visibility concerning the whereabouts and state of assets in the supply chain. Its mapping abilities with custom data cover the visualization of the real-time state and location as well as the status history of any asset being tracked. Asset tracking helps the owners of the assets to sense and preventively react to unexpected events such as pets or livestock or kids and others.

The NB-IoT market is segmented across five regions, namely, North America, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, the Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. APAC is expected to account for the largest share of the overall NB-IoT enterprise application market with highest CAGR as well in the forecast period, as in coming years, this region will ne see a huge number of smart cities growing which will be implementing a lot of smart application and other advanced software which is most likely to use NB-IoT applications and software.

Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) Enterprise Application Market

Large technology deployments invoke system downtime, where IT systems and support have to be switched off and become unavailable for operations, and competition from rival LPWAN technologies are major restraining factor in this market. However, rising need of connectivity in IoT applications, emerging smart cities and smart buildingsand deployment of intelligent devices are expected to provide significant growth opportunities in future. Some of the major technology vendors include such as Vodafone Group PLC, China mobile, China Unicom, AT&T, Honeywell International Inc. (U.S.), SK Telecom, and Etisalat. These companies have just entered into the trial version for launching NB-IoT solutions and have also entered into some of the collaborations in order to launch a NB-IoT application.

Real time streaming analysis

These days, organizations are focusing more towards the usage of advanced IT systems to overcome the challenges faced by them in day-to-day operations such as monitoring critical assets and tracking logistics. Huge data volumes are generated through various smart and connected devices, which are used for various applications across different industry verticals. This data could be transformed into crucial information and insights with the help of advanced IT solutions to yield greater efficiency, productivity, and profitability to the organizations. Advanced solutions such as real-time streaming analytics have transformed the conventional management into fact-based, decision-driven management. The real-time streaming analytics solution enables the organizations to analyse the data generated in different format in real-time as soon as the data-set arrives.

Soil Monitoring Solution

Fields and meadowlands are occasionally inaccessible from cell networks, where narrowband wave length solutions can act as a boon. Agriculturalists and farmers can get substantial benefit from real-time data indicating small differences in soil moisture, temperature, and humidity between and even within fields. The application software can provide them with real-time agricultural sensor data, with emphasis on precision irrigation, enabling growers to produce higher yields of better quality crops while helping to conserve natural resources. Soil moistness sensors from a producer can be linked to the independent NB-IoT modem and positioned in the field. Each modem would then transfer parameters of soil to the base station located in the farm location covering more than 7000 square kilometers of surrounding area. Data would then be received processed by the server and displayed in the client’s application.

Asset Tracking Solution

Asset tracking systems usually consists of desktop software, a mobile application, barcode scanners, and barcode labels. These elements transport the resources to locate physical objects, gather data on its usage and whereabouts, and report on all activity. The system allows businesses of any size to effectively track a pool of assets from when the items are bought or received, until they are transported or disposed. NB-IoT provides a wireless asset to track, sense, and control the product that would provide a round-the-clock visibility concerning the whereabouts and state of assets in the supply chain. Their mapping ability with custom data covers the visualization of the real-time state and location as well as the status history of any asset being tracked.

Logistics Tracking Solution

Logistics tracking solutions are interdependent set of communication devices, joints, and IoT technologies, that track key logistical processes to become more customer-centric by sharing data, information, and facts with supply chain partners. These tracking solutions include business processes related to warehouse, transportation, and associated logistics processes such as order processing, financial transactions, shipping, and dispatch & picking. NB-IoT would help drive more effective business decisions by identifying the crucial bottlenecks and thereby facilitating in critical decision making. Though the concept of NB-IoT is new, it is expected to gain traction in the coming years. NB-IoT would offer connectivity for tracking goods, trucks, trains, planes, ships, and boats and the sensors installed on each vessel, keeping a track of the shipments and monitoring the performance and health of the vehicles carrying them.

Smart Tracking Management Solution

Effective parking management permits drivers to find free parking space and avoid congestion while parking. NB-IoT technology makes a great wireless solution for parking sensors in a single garage/ parking, as compared to wired car parking sensor systems that are expensive for installation on a wide area of urban places. Instead of mounting wire line acoustic sensors to each space, long life sensor can be used beneath each parking spot which will be less expensive. Smart parking management solutions can visualize data when any parking event such as vehicle entering or leaving the area takes place. The parking sensor transmits a small amount of data but requires high autonomy

Critical questions the report answers:

  • Where will all these developments take the industry in the mid to long term?
  • What are the upcoming industry trends in NB-IoT market?

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