IoT revenue is expected to explode in the next decade

AP Photo/Francisco Seco

• Every industry, every vertical, and nearly every aspect
  of humanity will be impacted by 5G, according to a Cowen
  research note.
• The analysts believe that IoT represents the biggest 5G
  opportunity for the carriers.
• Verizon and AT&T have invested in teams that build
  out these 5G use cases for IoT.

As the Big 4 wireless carriers race toward 5G adoption,
much of the focus is on the blazing speeds 5G is expected to
eventually offer.

But the bigger opportunity for the telco giants might be
the millions of devices that will come to market over the next
decade and that will rely on their 5G networks. 

In other words, 5G has the potential to make every
electronic device on the planet — from refrigerators to light
switches to microwaves — connected to the web. 5G should bringing
IoT, or the “Internet of things” to unseen heights, with phone
companies leading the charge.

“IoT represents the biggest 5G opportunity for the carriers,”
analysts at Cowen wrote in a
note on their takeaways from Mobile World Congress
Americas 2018. “Every industry, every vertical, and nearly
every aspect of humanity will be impacted. 5G is being considered
a ‘general purpose technology’ or ‘GPT’ like the wheel, steam
power, electricity, the computer, and the Internet.”

IoT revenue is expected to explode in the next
decade

5G is the fifth — and next — generation of wireless
technology. Its expected to deliver faster speed than the current
4G LTE standard, and allow for “internet of things”
deployments. 

The GSMA, a trade body for mobile network operators,
anticipates IoT revenue to explode in the next decade. It
predicated a
 313% increase in revenue by 2025,
growing to $1.1 trillion from $267 billion in 2018,
according to Cowen. Telcom companies already employ teams to
innovate around IoT.

“These technologies are not just about blazing fast speeds,
but they are around enabling a massive adoption of 5G by lowering
the cost of devices and infrastructure, increasing significantly
the battery life of devices, and increase coverage to connect
those things.” Mobeen Khan, AVP of IoT and blockchain at
AT&T, told Business Insider.

AT&T currently has 44 million IoT devices
from cars to healthcare devices, according to Khan.
In September, AT&T partnered with Samsung to
develop the SmartThings Tracker, a device that you can
place on a pet or expensive item to locate if it becomes
lost.

AT&T has also previously touted 5G and  IoT
opportunities as one reason motivation for its acquisition
of Time Warner. 

Speaking to employees earlier this
year, Warner Media CEO John
Stankey  said 5G opens up the ability
for autonomous vehicles. “Why do you care about vehicles that are
self-driving? If you’re not driving yourself to and from work to
and from Los Angeles anymore, you can sit in the back seat and
let the vehicle take you, what do you get? You get another hour
or two hours to consume great content that you build every day,”
Stankey said.

Fifth
Element

Smart city solutions require 5G

Verizon has made a number of investments in the IoT space
related to connected city opportunities, according to
Cowen.

Their Smart Communities group, for example, is focused
on solving challenges that cities face today including
public safety, improving traffic congestion, and reducing energy
costs, Sean Harrington, VP of city solutions, told Business
Insider.

One current solution being developed at Smart Communities is an
IoT solution to extend the green on a traffic light to avoid a
typical high risk issue called the “dilemma zone.” This situation
happens when there’s a large vehicle coming to an intersection
and the traffic light turns yellow, forcing the driver to make a
decision whether to slam on the breaks or run a red light. 

“Without 5G we couldn’t do this,” Harrington said, noting the
super-low latency needed to make real-time signal changes. 

An emerging topic in telco space

IoT wasn’t the only big topic at MWC. Blockchain dominated panels
as well, according to Cowen analysts. Though typically associated
with cryptocurrency, Cowen analysts said the technology provides
a vast opportunity for data sharing that becomes increasingly
possible with 5G.

The analysts walked through an example of the GPS
technology company Garmin populating traffic data into a
database that is paired with the personal bio data you enter when
you register your device. This data could then be linked to
hospital data, construction data, or traffic-light data, through
a single data depository.

“Blockchain can and will be leveraged by enterprises and smart
cities, and subsequently is an emerging topic in the telco space
over the past few months,” the analysts wrote.