LTE Router/Gateway Market Will Reach $1.9 Billion in 2022

While LTE macro networks have been in place for several years in the consumer market, LTE is seeing stronger uptake as a way to provide reliable failover or as a primary WAN connectivity solution in the enterprise, according to IDC. Heightened demand is fed by new enterprise applications requiring cost-effective ways to connect to the cloud or, in another instance, internally across a geodispersed private network.

While IDC sees LTE router/gateway suppliers benefitting from these trends, the supplier landscape remains largely fragmented. IDC has observed a number of leading suppliers begin to distance themselves in revenue and growth metrics; however, differentiation will remain challenging as the market matures. Early-stage markets often require thought leadership and ecosystem development to ignite stronger growth patterns.

As such, IDC observes three main use cases that LTE router/gateway suppliers are moving to address. Those are branch connectivity, mobile connectivity and IoT/M2M. Worldwide, IDC expects the LTE router/gateway market to grow from approximately $804.2 million in 2018 to $1.9 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.4%. Regionally, North America will remain the largest consumer of LTE routers/gateways, but Asia/Pacific, including Japan and China, will grow the fastest over the forecast period supported by continued expansion and/or densification of macro LTE networks in the region.