IoT connections to grow 400% in four years

IoT connections are expected to reach 142 million by 2027, mainly due to the growth of 5G standalone deployments. According to data forecasts, the number of 5G IoT roaming connections will increase from 15 million in 2023 to 142 million in 2027. This growth will be mainly attributed to 5G standalone deployments, that is, networks that do not rely on 4G LTE or other previous generation technologies. In this way, customers can get higher average speeds, thereby improving the value proposition of roaming mode.

Western Europe is a key market for the growth of 5G IoT connections, forecast to account for 21% of all 5G roaming connections by 2027, despite accounting for only 5% of the global population. Significant investments in 5G by countries and mobile operators over the past few years and into the mid-2020s will put Western Europe ahead of other regions.

To further capitalize on the growth of 5G IoT roaming in Western Europe, operators must enter into roaming agreements that leverage standalone 5G networks to improve network performance for roaming connections and provide the same level of service when roaming as on the home network.

In addition to increasing 5G standalone deployments and establishing roaming agreements, cellular operators can implement roaming analytics to increase revenue generated from IoT roaming data captured in real-time.

The number of IoT connections is expected to exceed 100 million by 2026. This appears to be a slightly more optimistic outlook from the market research firm, indicating that the pace of deployment has accelerated since March.

Some factors in the report appear to be several years away, for example, the report mentions that autonomous vehicles will require advanced roaming solutions, but the availability of autonomous vehicles outside of a few test cities could still be more than a decade away. Stakeholders may need to consider more practical reasons for implementing 5G standalone deployments, rather than reasons why it may not impact their region before the 2030s.