The telco is expected to end this year with a market share of 53% in this segment
AT&T is forecasted to reach 48% of total cellular IoT connections in the U.S. market by 2025, according to a recent study by Counterpoint Research.
The telco is also expected to end this year with a market share of 53%, mainly boosted by automobile connections.
Verizon is expected to have the second-largest share of the market: 26% by the end of 2025, compared to a market share of 22% at the end of 2018. According to Counterpoint Research, Verizon’s connections are dominated by the transport and logistics and enterprise segments.
Meanwhile, Sprint and T-Mobile US will end 2025 with an estimated market share of 14% and 12% respectively. These two carriers will end this year with a market share of 14% and 11% respectively, according to the research firm.
“A majority of Sprint’s connections are dominated by energy, industrial, automotive and enterprise. … Currently, energy, industrial and enterprise applications are dominating T-Mobile’s cellular connections. However, going forward we are expecting to see a significant increase in cellular connections from smart city applications,” the study said.
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Cellular IoT connections in the United States grew 21% year-over-year in the first half of 2018, according to the research firm.
The study forecasts that IoT cellular connection in the U.S. market will grow by 25% year-on-year by the end of 2018, mainly driven by the rollout of IoT low-power wireless access networks.
5G IoT cellular connections will contribute to 16% of the U.S.’ IoT cellular connection by 2025, the study said.
In July, T-Mobile US launched a nationwide IoT network using NB-IoT technology. At the time of the launch, the carrier said that its service was the first NB-IoT network in the U.S. and the first one in the world that leverages guard bands, which are narrow slices of unused spectrum meant to separate frequency ranges and prevent interference.
Verizon has said that it plans to launch an NB-IoT network by the end of this year; the operator already offers LTE-M services. AT&T also said that it plans to launch an NB-IoT network in the U.S. in early 2019 and Mexico in late 2019, to complement its existing LTE-M networks in those countries.