Can we talk about “mobile” anymore? Yes, but with the growth of IoT, mobile broadband and social media and messaging and photo and video sharing apps, can we still associate “mobile” primarily with voice? Or should “mobile” be renamed “mobile data”? Let’s delve into the argument.
Network signals are the new electricity, and in fact have been for many years. By that I mean they are a used for a wide variety of purposes: streaming, working from home and/or while on the move, enabling IoT, etc and etc, just as electricity has many different uses, from lighting, power drilling, watching tv and running washing machines to powering data centres, computers and e-cars; and charging our phones.
The change from mobile voice to mobile data is accelerating. Who still uses voice? Plenty of smartphone and dumbphone users, muddying the equation. But, in the B2B space, the interest is in data. B2B mobile data is where the business, increasingly IoT-led, is. The sunsetting of 2G and 3G services in 2025+ will only add to the opportunities and growth in mobile data. In which way?
Driving one example are the eight million 2G connections forecast to move to Low Power Wide Area Networks(LPWAN) technologies by 2025/26. That translates into SIM swapping and the creation of new services. An analogy is what has been happening around the upcoming PSTN switch off, where, before the change, new business opportunities involving VoIP-based alternatives to PSTN are being enhanced and created across vertical markets in the mobile space.
Tomorrow’s revenues happening today
Some solution providers (resellers and managed service providers [MSPs]) are already making the switch, for their business customers, from 2G and 3G. For them, tomorrow’s revenues are happening today. LPWAN is one route they are going down as an alternative to 2G and 3G. LPWANs comprise a group of wireless technologies designed to deliver IoT connectivity efficiently at low cost over wide areas. The complexity and costs of LPWAN deployments can be kept low thanks to simplified device design – and long battery life, meaning there is no need for electrical cabling.
Typically, when IoT is enabled, most SIMs will use 4G/5G to communicate where the application requires a very large battery or is mains-connected. But when we’re talking about something like a sensor in the middle of a remote reservoir that doesn’t have mains power, but does have a small battery that gets replaced every 12-24 months, a low power network solution is the requirement. That’s where LPWANS come into their own, as do eSIMS – SIM cards that can be updated remotely, with no need to physically swap them.
Just by having conversations about switching from 2G and 3G with existing customers, and prospective customers keen to learn more, solution providers have the opportunity to get to know those customers and prospects better, and cross sell to them with other products and services. The benefits work both ways, with end user organisations benefiting from those conversations and the choices they make.
Revenue streams
From an IoT perspective, tomorrow’s revenues are here today more than ever. IoT is seen as the enabler of “the next big, and essential thing, preferably platform agnostic”, while itself being the next big thing. For solution providers, IoT will generate an increase in revenues in a market that is heavily commoditised on legacy products. IoT is replacing or increasing legacy revenues. And with use cases often being deployed for long periods of time, revenue streams can be relied upon to deliver, provided the solution provider keeps the customer onside.
Also from an IoT perspective, where deployments are of a critical nature it is important that solution providers ensure that connectivity will be secure, fully managed and fit for the use case. That is of paramount importance because IoT is not defined by a single network, single technology, single tariff or mobile broadband with a public APN.
Therefore, it is vitally important that solution providers understand the critical nature and importance of the “connectivity pipe” and consider the key requirements of the solution, including:
- Secure connectivity
- Flexibility of local, global & roaming networks
- Access to multiple technologies
- Intelligent commercials structures
- Single pane of glass SIM management portal that glues all the connectivity together
Deploying the wrong type of connectivity can bring risk and, ultimately, failure, which can literally be a life-or-death moment in many of the end use cases.
Growth from companies that don’t exist
With a reported 50% of IoT revenues to come from companies that don’t currently exist, the focus – on who to target – should shift from wide to narrow, in order to uncover “the next big thing” Those companies-to-be will change the way we work and play. Disruptive examples in the non IoT sphere of where that has already happened include Uber, Just Eat, etc They have shown how, in a short space of time, tradition can become history. IoT connectivity will play a pivotal role in making it happen, and help prevent failures from new and “old” companies alike.
In summary, the single word “mobile” is relevant to the still-sizeable percentage of users who make calls on their phones, but hardly so for the huge and expanding B2B data sector, where IoT is the primary driver of growth and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.
For more about IoT connectivity: https://www.cellhire.co.uk/solutions/iot
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