Operators obtained new contracts for NB-IoT and LTE-M in 2023, largely for smart metering and asset tracking

The LPWA market remains competitive; large contracts have been awarded to operators for the use of various technologies including NB-IoT and LTE-M. The number of new networks deployed has decreased in recent years (101 new public LPWA networks were deployed in 2018 compared to just 14 in 2023; see Figure 1), but operators are still focused on expanding coverage as well as winning contracts. Indeed, almost 4 million new NB-IoT and LTE-M networks were launched in 2023, according to Analysys Mason’s LPWA networks index, as well as a combined total of 7 million connections across LoRaWAN, Sensus Flexnet and Sigfox networks. Smart metering and asset tracking have emerged as key use cases.