Offering low power, low cost, and long range, LPWANs (Low Power WANs) provide a broader range of M2M and IoT applications, currently limited by budget constraints and distance from the power source. Based on data from 2015, Beecham Research forecasts that by 2020, LPWANs will provide 26% of the total IoT connectivity market with 345 million connections, ending the near-monopoly of traditional mobile networks for machine connectivity.
"LPWANs represent the most dynamic and transformative development in the M2M/IoT market," says David Parker, senior analyst at Beecham Research and author of the report. "The lower speeds of LPWANs are the trade-off for greater range, delivering networks optimized for machine connectivity at much lower deployment costs than traditional mobile networks. LPWANs will both compete with and collaborate with mobile and network technologies to stimulate market growth by offering more connectivity options to end users."
The report also warns about the hype surrounding "Big Data" applications, where everything is discussed in terms of the 3 Vs: speed, volume, and variety. "Our analysis of LPWANs highlighted that there are many applications that are neither Big Data nor necessarily real-time, interactive, or immersive," said Robin Duke-Woolley, Managing Director of Beecham Research. "Therefore, from a connectivity perspective, the market will move toward 4G-5G to meet the needs of high-bandwidth IoT, while LPWANs and similar networks will serve the needs of low-bandwidth IoT."
The Beecham Research report investigates the growing abundance of LPWAN technologies, including companies like Sigfox and the LoRa Alliance, which are currently leading the LPWAN sector in terms of network deployment, industry support, investment, and customers. Most of these LPWAN solutions use ICM (industrial, scientific, and medical) bands, best known for their use in short-range wireless technologies such as Zigbee, Wi-Fi, and 6LoWPAN. However, recent advances have enabled LPWANs to be established using ICM bands at longer distances, up to 50 km in rural areas and between 5 and 10 km in urban areas.
Another LPWAN technology with long-range, low-power characteristics is known as TV band spectral clearing (TVWS), which utilizes the spaces between the VHF/UHF portions of the spectrum previously used for television broadcasts. TVWS promises connectivity at distances of up to 10 km and with greater penetration into buildings compared to 3G or 4G.
"New entrants working in the ICM and TVWS bands are driving global market growth while also providing a stimulus for action within the GSMA," said Parker. “Developing standards for the mobile network operator community is a slower process, but the emergence of LTE-M and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) will allow mobile operators to compete with these new entrants on a level playing field in terms of features, battery life, and cost.” The report examines the latest developments in this field.
Although the market is moving quickly, Duke-Woolley also cautions against overly optimistic forecasts: “We have seen some astonishing predictions of the number of connected devices in the next five to ten years that are simply unrealistic. The risk is that new and existing companies will create business plans based on these predictions and run out of funding before they have a chance to establish themselves and become profitable. Beecham Research’s core business is providing tailored support to each client in developing business plans, for which providing realistic forecasts is essential.”
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