Operator IoT Roaming Revenue to Break $2 Billion by 2029

A new study by Juniper Research has found that operator revenue from IoT roaming will grow from $1.1 billion in 2024 to $2.2 billion in 2029. The study predicts that 5G IoT devices will be instrumental in driving this increase, accounting for more than 40% of total revenue by 2029, despite accounting for fewer than 10% of IoT roaming connections.

The report found that 5G-enhanced roaming services, which provide improved quality of service for 5G IoT use cases, such as Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) will be key to this revenue growth. As 5G-enhanced roaming will be required for mission-critical service delivery, operators will be able to apply premium pricing to these connections. The research identified URLLC connectivity as crucial for success, as it is essential for real-time mission-critical use cases such as IoT-based maintenance in connected vehicles, due to its increased reliability.

The report also found that the introduction of enhanced connectivity will necessitate the development of roaming steering between network slices. Network slices are logically separated, independent segments of a 5G network, which are often used for a specific use case or set of users. Advanced roaming steering will be necessary to direct IoT connections to the right network slice, based on the use case, ensuring optimized quality of service.

“To effectively meet quality of service requirements, operators must provide enterprises with tools which allow them to input their connectivity requirements; enabling operators to steer IoT roaming connections to the optimal network slice,” remarked research author Alex Webb.