Outdoor surveillance cameras will be the largest market for 5G internet-of-things (IoT) solutions over the next three years, according to analyst house Gartner.
They will represent 70 per cent of installed 5G-based IoT endpoints in 2020. By 2028, however, as much as 94 per cent of the installed base of 5G-based IoT endpoints will be in vehicles, for cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communications.
The market share for 5G surveillance cameras will contract to 32 per cent by the end of 2023, as the overall market expands, and the automotive industry becomes the largest opportunity for 5G-based IoT, with 53 per cent of total installed base of 5G IoT endpoints.
Gartner predicts the number of 5G-based outdoor surveillance cameras will reach 2.5 million in 2020, 6.2 million units in 2021, and 11.2 million units in 2022. But the total base of 5G-based IoT endpoints will more than triple between 2020 and 2021, from 3.5 million units in 2020 to 11.3 million units in 2021.
By 2023, the total installed base will approach 49 million units. Of this, the automotive sector will drive growth, notably with the number of 5G connected vehicles. Embedded endpoints in connected cars for commercial and consumer markets will represent an installed base of 19.1 million units in 2023, out of a total of 25.9 million 5G endpoints in the automotive sector.
The share of 5G-connected cars actively connected to a 5G service will grow from 15 per cent in 2020 (just 393,000 endpoints) to 74 per cent in 2023. This figure will reach 94 per cent in 2028, when 5G technology will be used for cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communications that enable messages to be sent and received within vehicles and between vehicles, infrastructure, pedestrians, cyclists and more.
5G-based leet telematics devices will number around five million in 2023; 5G-based in-vehicle toll devices will be around 1.5 million.
Telecoms operators should prioritize their investments in IoT solutions, accordingly, said Gartrner. “Their investments should focus on outdoor surveillance cameras, connected cars, and government and physical security,” said Stephanie Baghdassarian, senior research director at Gartner.
Baghdassarian said: “The addressable market for embedded 5G connections in connected cars is growing faster than the overall growth in the 5G IoT sector. Commercial and consumer connected-car embedded 5G endpoints will represent 11 per cent of all 5G endpoints installed in 2020, and 39 per cent by the end of 2023.”
She added: “As the automotive industry will be the largest sector for IoT endpoints and 5G IoT use cases in the long term, we recommend that CSPs that want to be relevant in the 5G IoT market put this industry at the forefront of their investments. They should do this in terms of personnel who understand the sector and of partnerships that will move the market forward.”
