Mobile M2M market in Russia surges 60% in H1
MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) - The market for mobile M2M (machine-to-machine) services in Russia grew by 60% in the first half of 2012 to 3 million SIM cards from 1.8 million SIM cards at the end of June 2011, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) said in a statement.
About 40% of M2M solutions are now used in transportation monitoring systems. Another 20% of such solutions are used in security systems, 15% for transmission of data from bank machines and payment terminals, 12% in industry and the power sector, and 10% in consumer electronics (navigators, trackers, etc.), MTS said.
The company reckons the fastest growing areas for M2M applications include telemedicine, electronic government services and vending machines. The company said that the number of SIM cards used in telemedicine projects in Russia jumped 80% in the first half of 2012, and the number used in electronic government services and vending rose by 75% and 65% respectively.
MTS said the number of its SIM cards used in M2M solutions in Russia grew by 45% since the start of this year to 1.45 million.
M2M refers to technology that allows wireless access to information about remote sites and equipment for collection of data and monitoring of their condition. Such systems are most often used in the government services sector, industry and energy sector.
The vice president of mobile operator Vimpelcom , Andrei Patoka in May estimated that the revenues of mobile service providers on the M2M market are growing by an annual average of 80%.
"Already today we are seeing constant demand for M2M solutions. In the past three years the number of Beeline SIM cards used in M2M solutions has more than quadrupled. And we are forecasting that on the market as a whole in the next few years one can expect 80% average annual growth of revenues from these services. Just in Russia, the number of M2M subscribers, if you can call them that, is expected to grow to 18.5 million active SIM cards in the next few years," Patoka said.
The GSM Association (GSMA) and Machina Research forecast at the beginning of this year that the connected life market would grow to $4.5 trillion in 2020. Researchers estimate that the number of connected devices in the world will reach 24 billion in 2020 (up from about 9 billion at the end of 2011), which will lead to the emergence of new sources of revenue, the establishment of new business models and so on. Most of the growth in connected devices is expected to be in the M2M sector, where the number of devices is expected to surge to about 12 billion terminal devices from 1.5 billion last year.
The GSMA also said that the revenues of mobile operators would account for nearly a third of the connected life market, or $1.2 trillion, sales of communications devices and various communications services will make up about $1.3 trillion, and another $2 trillion will be generated as a result of reduced costs, such as in the utilities sector (with the installation of smart meters) and provision of additional services, such as remote health monitoring.
