The Internet of Things (IoT) market is appealing to carriers at multiple levels, according to comments attributed to AT&T’s Senior Vice President of Business Solutions Customer Experience, Steve Hodges. It is no secret that carriers are embracing the IoT movement, and based on the comments made by Hodges, the reason for this is that the number of revenue routes that are now opening up to carriers, are almost endless.
During the comments, which were reportedly given during an investors conference on Thursday, Hodges did pick up on the fact that as these are low-powered and low-demanding devices, the revenue that any one device will likely generate is going to be fairly low. However, Hodges also did note that from the carrier perspective, “it’s all revenue” and almost just as important, it is revenue that “doesn’t tax your network.” Two lines of thinking that are even more appealing to carriers due to the sheer number of devices that are expected to hit the market over the next few years. However, it is not just about the number of devices, but also the additional number of ways in which a carrier can “leverage their services” through each device. Hodges uses the connected car as a prime example, with this being a single connected product that opens up mobile network operators to a number of different service streams, including wireless diagnostics, navigation services, and delivery of in-car entertainment features. As Hodges reportedly noted, it “just goes on and on and on.”
It is becoming increasing clear just how potentially important the IoT market will be. This is one which has yet to even become commonplace, and yet the numbers associated with it are already starting to seem staggering, and not just for carriers. By January of this year, Qualcomm had announced that it shipped over one billion IoT chips and only last month, Qualcomm announced that it was already seeing a massive uptake in the number of IoT chips shipped, with 1.5 billion chips having been shipped by May of this year. At the same time confirming that it is now shipping out more than one million IoT chips on a daily basis to manufacturers.