ABIresearch®

Short-range wireless technologies, like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 802.15.4, increasingly target nascent IoT markets beyond the consumer space. ABI Research finds that these technologies will face a greater competitive risk from emerging M2M cellular and LPWAN technologies, particularly in specific IoT market segments.

5G deployments indoors and in venues may be delayed by one year or more when compared to outdoor 5G deployments starting from 2020. ABI Research estimates the global equipment market for in-building wireless, including active distributed antenna systems (DAS), passive DAS and repeaters, for 2025, will reach close to $10 billion.

Fully driverless technology will spark a transformation of personal mobility, enabling consumers to abandon costly vehicle ownership and summon shared vehicles when needed. ABI Research predicts that this will transform the vehicle interior, which car manufacturers will design to be reconfigurable per the individual needs and preferences of whoever is using the vehicle at the time.

 By the end of 2014, China gained almost 100 million LTE subscriptions in the first year of full LTE commercialization, demonstrating an accelerating growth momentum, according to ABI Research. Thanks to the first-mover advantages, China Mobile seized almost 90% share of the total LTE market in China. “Since the other two China mobile operators—China Unicom and China Telecom—were granted preferred FDD-LTE licenses in March 2015, it is expected that China will overtake the United States to become the largest 4G market in the world, accumulating 500 million LTE subscriptions, or 36.5% of the domestic cellular subscriptions in 2015,” comments Marina Lu, Research Analyst at ABI Research. 

ABI Research expects growth of 10% in mobile telecoms capital expenditure (CapEx) in Latin America, rising to US$6.1 billion. Upgrades and expansion of 3G WCDMA and 4G LTE coverage will result in radio access network-related spending capturing 40% of CapEx. Investment in small cell base stations is garnering momentum with 40% year-on-year growth in 2014 to US$484 million.

The M2M market has become a fully mainstream segment of the cellular industry.