An increasing number of mobile operators have announced organisational changes and new partnerships this year that aim to help them secure a share of the growing M2M market in Europe and North America. A mass-market demand for M2M solutions has emerged and continues to grow as the trend towards embedded, rather than retrofitted, M2M applications in devices gathers pace. While enterprise initiatives have been driven by the need to increase efficiency, reduce costs, increase revenue, retain customers and address environmental concerns, governmental regulation has in turn focused on safety and energy efficiency, and both developments have influenced the growth of the market.
This Perspective determines whether mass-market M2M solutions will deliver the desired results for operators, given the capabilities that operators will need in order to launch them and the lower ARPU rates that they tend to deliver, and examines the additional opportunities that operators should explore when building M2M capabilities.