Summary

Telco IoT Offerings and Market Opportunity Assessment in Africa and Middle East, an Insider research report by GlobalData, thoroughly examines the IoT landscape, telcos’ IoT value chain, and IoT business models that the telcos are applying to profit from the IoT opportunity in the AME region. The IoT value chain consists of five key layers: connectivity; security and M2M network management; platform; IoT applications; and operations. Telcos traditionally have a strong presence in the connectivity layer though the strength of their offerings declines when moving up the IoT value chain. This shift in positioning on the IoT value chain is happening as telcos are answering three major market dynamics driving the adoption of IoT: optimizing the utilization of physical and financial assets, transformation of customer engagement and differentiation of product and services. Telcos have already perceived the need to expand their portfolio beyond connectivity to monetize the growing IoT market opportunity. To develop an IoT-focused portfolio telcos are engaging in partnerships, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions of different stakeholders that are part of the IoT ecosystem, including network vendors, technology providers, application developers, and start-ups.

With the development of new applications and solutions and the focus of stakeholders to position the connectivity component as an embedded and invisible component within IoT solutions, connectivity revenue share of total IoT market is relatively small and is expected to decline in Africa and Middle East. The IoT ecosystems can also be quite complex and often telcos do not have all the in-house technical capabilities required to provide end-to-end IoT solutions and services to their clients. Many telcos are focusing on leveraging their capabilities to develop cross-vertical solutions that can be applied across different IoT projects.

The report is structured as follows -
- Section 1: Taxonomy and Market Context; a look at the M2M and IoT definition and also on the Telcos’ IoT value chain. This section details the position of select telcos within the IoT value chain and showcases examples of telcos emerging into the IoT platform space.
- Section 2: IoT Revenue Forecast; a global IoT revenue forecast by technology segment, access technology and vertical industry. This section also forecast the IoT revenue in the AME region by technology segment and industry.
- Section 3: Telco IoT Offerings and Strategies to Capture the IoT Market Opportunity; an analysis of two case studies of telcos moving up the IoT value chain in the AME region. This section analyzes the ecosystem dynamics of each case and provides an insight on the business model adopted by telcos to monetize from the IoT implementation.
- Section 4: Findings and Recommendations; we conclude the report with a set of key findings and critical considerations and recommendations for telcos and vendors pursuing the IoT opportunity.

Scope

- IoT connectivity accounts for the smallest portion of revenue by technology across all the regions. Operators to remain competitive and profitable in the IoT ecosystem need to be more than a network provider and move up in the IoT value chain.
- Utilities, government, and manufacturing verticals are driving the IoT revenue globally and regionally. In the AME region, the three verticals will grow at a CAGR of 20.2% over 2018-2023.
- The IoT market is continuously evolving; currently, the main source of IoT access technology revenue is mobile connectivity. However, wireline and NB-IoT connectivity are growing rapidly and will replace legacy networking technology.

Reasons to buy

- This Insider Report provides a comprehensive examination of telcos' IoT business models to help executives fully understand market dynamics, determine what works and what doesn’t, formulate effective product development plans, and optimize resource allocation and return on investments.
- Two case studies in the Africa and Middle East region illustrate the findings of the report, providing insight into particular situations regarding IoT implementations and the participation of telcos in these projects; this will help the reader understand both the challenges confronted in the real world and the strategies employed to succeed.
- The report discusses concrete opportunities in the IoT market, providing a number of actionable recommendations for telcos and vendors.
- With 17 charts and tables, the report is designed for an executive-level audience, to help to understand the different approaches that telcos are adopting to foster their presence within the IoT value chain and ecosystem.