IoT ROAMING IN 2024: THE ROAD AHEAD

Madrid, 30 July 2024. – The nature of IoT supply chains and sales channels means that connectivity support spanning multiple borders has historically been a requirement for the majority of IoT customer requirements. According to Kaleido Intelligence, which conducted a survey of 800 IoT-focused enterprises in 2023, less than 8% of respondents who had adopted cellular technology for IoT reported that they required domestic connectivity support exclusively. As such, we can infer that 92% of enterprise IoT customers require international connectivity support for their SIM estates.

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While today’s connectivity ecosystem offers customers a range of technological solutions to address international connectivity needs through eSIM, multi-IMSI, and global roaming SIMs in addition to locally sourced SIMs, the need for lower complexity in terms of contractual arrangements and technical integrations means that in the world of IoT, roaming remains king. This is even the case for eSIM of multi-IMSI solutions, which have often been promoted as mechanisms to localise connectivity. In reality, local eSIM profiles or IMSI ranges are most frequently used when there are regulatory or strict commercial requirements to migrate away from a roaming profile. For example, this is most commonly seen in market such as the USA (where inter-operator commercial arrangements restrict permanent roaming), Brazil (where the regulator bans permanent roaming) and Turkey (where permanent roaming is strictly controlled by the regulator through IMEI tracking).

Even as the new eSIM IoT specification is commercialised, which lowers go-to-market complexity in addition to commercial and technical hurdles to initiate carrier swaps over the air, demand for IoT roaming is not anticipated to be significantly impacted. Largely, this is due to the fact that as operator profiles are switched, new backend integrations and commercial relationships will often have to be established as part of connectivity management.

Kaleido anticipates that IoT roaming growth will outstrip the overall cellular IoT connection base, registering a CAGR of 21% between 2023 and 2028, with global IoT roaming connections reaching 1 billion in 2028. In contrast, the installed base of cellular IoT connections will grow at a CAGR of 14% during the same period.

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Naturally, this strong demand for IoT roaming connectivity will also impact the volume of traffic flowing between networks: by 2028, Kaleido expects that IoT roaming connectivity will generate over 570 petabytes of data annually, having increased by over 150% from 2023.

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It must be noted that, for IoT use cases, not all traffic is equal. The huge diversity in customer requirements, which might range from robotics applications to remote monitoring solutions, means that bandwidth, latency demands, and sensitivities vary considerably. Above all, this indicates that flexibility to address various requirements is paramount in today’s competitive market. As the availability of 5G IoT devices on the market becomes broader and more affordable, it is inevitable that connectivity service providers will see even more of such extremes, given networks’ support for higher bandwidth and lower latency, in addition to very high connection density, and even cellular-satellite converged network solutions. Technical solutions to enhance roaming flexibility and user experience, such as local breakout (LBO), have long been discussed in the market but have seen limited adoption. Nevertheless, the ever-increasing demand for IoT roaming connectivity, more sophisticated and demanding IoT applications, and a higher emphasis on data sovereignty and privacy means that a perfect storm is fast-approaching where traditional home-routed roaming architecture is not optimised for many IoT use cases. By localising the data plane through LBO, latency, excess transport costs, as well as cross-border data flow risks can be addressed.

Meanwhile, there are other demands to consider. Previously, we have examined the nature of regulations and commercial restrictions on IoT connectivity, but it is important to note that the ability to address connectivity from a coverage perspective is of fundamental importance, too. This is reflected in Kaleido’s enterprise IoT survey referenced earlier, where 61% of respondents placed the need for ‘robust coverage for muti-country/multi-region deployments’ among their top five requirements from IoT connectivity service providers.

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In practice, this means an increased emphasis on wholesale strategy to support international IoT connectivity – whether simply through direct roaming agreements in key target markets, or via sponsored roaming partnerships or roaming hub initiatives to enhance the connectivity footprint over and above what is possible via a ‘go-it-alone’ strategy. This is something that has commonly been observed with IoT MVNOs and lower-tier MNOs, although it is notable that a partnership or collaboration model for IoT connectivity is gradually seeing increased interest among tier 1 MNOs as well.

Within the context of coverage and quality, it is important to consider that the average lifecycle of an IoT device spans several years and is often deployed in the field for a decade or more. Where these devices are running on battery power, service providers must be able to accommodate features such as PSM and eDRX (network power-saving mechanisms) to maximise the efficiency of available power on the device, thus extending its lifespan. Meanwhile, on the commercial side, being able to offer a guarantee of long-term pricing stability and connectivity availability for device estates is increasingly critical as enterprises become more demanding and aware of long-term connectivity challenges and risks.

Meanwhile in roaming scenarios, it is equally important to consider how connectivity quality is addressed. Partners should offer access to reliable and high-quality networks for roaming IoT devices to ensure that QoS, uptime and expedient customer support conditions are met to deliver best-in-class services as devices are deployed internationally. Naturally, this will largely be dependent on contractual and technical arrangements between roaming partners, and as such, due diligence in this respect is necessary to ensure that quality standards can be met.

By Kaleido Intelligence

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The IoT industry is generating exciting new opportunities together with demands for new technologies. The Connectivity piece is one of the key elements to deeply consider when creating a robust proposition, where excellent IoT roaming connectivity is fundamental. TGS can help those IoT Connectivity Service Providers looking for a simple but compelling solution that will boost their IoT service offering.

Our Global Connect Hub solution is a one-stop shop for roaming connectivity – one connection, one platform, global coverage and multiple donors. It enables IoT Providers to quickly, securely and cost effectively increase roaming coverage through a single hub connection, eliminating the need to sign roaming agreements with multiple operators or to have agreements with different IMSI donors to achieve global connectivity. Importantly it also addresses the specific, and often complex, challenges related to IoT Roaming in different regions across the globe, such as providing permanent roaming options where required, whilst ensuring the best customer experience.

We take away the complexity of achieving the roaming connectivity you need as well as supporting the demands of your customers’ IoT applications.

At TGS our solutions are already adapted for IoT LPWAN technologies, including LTE-M and NB IoT, together with 5G Non Standalone. We have also started to trial 5G Standalone for some of our roaming services, so we are well placed to help you take advantage of the opportunities brought about by the 5G era. We’re also leading the way with IoT Roaming initiatives having participated in a ground-breaking proof of concept with the Global Leaders’ Forum and 3 other carriers, which proved the technical feasibility of low latency data roaming required by critical IoT applications. We have a long experience in enabling IoT connectivity and understand IoT challenges, technologies and business cases, where competitive rates play a fundamental role.

Talk to us to discover how we can help you take advantage of the increase in IoT Roaming to boost your business.

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