Vodafone justifies another, more specific run at the IoT market with Economy of Things
Up to 3.3 billion connected devices will be trading directly with each other by 2030, according to new research by STL Partners and commissioned by Vodafone.
The operator group’s IoT business has not lived up to expectations, and in May it was reported that the group was looking to sell a stake of up to 49% in its IoT unit. Vodafone’s IoT business had 150 million IoT SIM connections in 2022, up from 123 million the year before, and accounts for only 2% of service revenues for the fiscal year that concluded at the end of March.
Also in May, Vodafone also announced a joint venture with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation to build a standalone Economy of Things (EoT) division which is undergoing regulatory approval. If it goes ahead, Vodafone will own 80% of the joint entity. Vodafone had already entered the EoT market in 2022 with its Digital Asset Broker (DAB), its new EoT platform.
10% of overall IoT market
The EoT is expected to account for more than 10% of the overall IoT market and envisioned as a world in which vehicles, devices and machines can interact and transact with each other via a secure digital platform.
The growth predicted in the report represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 68%, with a starting point of 88 million devices in 2024.
Vehicles banking on EOT
The report predicts connected vehicles will have the most EoT-enabled devices by 2030 as vehicle telematics are already relatively mature, and the data collected by vehicles for others in the ecosystem is highly valued. Connected vehicles and smart infrastructure, such as Electric Vehicles (EV) charging points, parking space sensors and traffic lights can communicate and coordinate directly using EoT.
Banks and organisations that facilitate the payments destined for EoT also recognise the positive future of this technology. Mark Williamson, Global Head of FX Partnerships & Propositions, HSBC, explained: “There are so many opportunities with the EoT so it is important to think about where it will progress fast in its first stages. There is a lot of interest and penetration in the motoring and EV worlds, and this will be a key starting point.”
Jorge Bento, CEO of DAB at Vodafone, stated, “IoT has always operated in siloes, with devices only communicating within the domain of the supplier of the device. Frictionless interoperability between devices, people and sensors in the IoT domain and beyond provides an enormous monetisation opportunity for our partners and business customers.”
Read the full report here.