How Big are M2M Connection Revenues, Today?

Machine-to-machine communications are the plumbing for the Internet of Things, and therefore underpins communication service provider interest and revenue potential from the IoT, one might argue.

For that reason, IoT is the larger of the two markets. The analogy is the current relationship between Internet access and Internet application revenue streams, where application companies earn multiples of access revenue.

If global mobile revenue is about $1.2 trillion, as estimated by the GSMA, total mobile ecosystem revenues are about $2 trillion, roughly 15 percent of global mobile revenues are generated by Internet access and M2M represents an incremental one percent of present revenues, then

M2M revenue might represent something like $1.8 billion, annually, for the mobile industry.

Some estimate mobile M2M connection revenue at perhaps $1.5 billion to $2.4 billion, depending on the assumptions about recurring monthly revenue for an M2M connection.