With IoT and M2M offering new kind of challenges to telcos, there is a growing urge in the service provider community to prepare their networks to address the traffic demands from these trends.
Meanwhile IoT and M2M also offer opportunities for telcos to deliver services for a range of applications including critical devices like heart monitors and smart home appliances that need to be controlled and managed efficiently.
A recent survey by Starhome Mach reveals that M2M is a mainstream, global opportunity for mobile operators.
A vast majority (86 percent) of survey participants – the roaming community at the GSMA Wholesale Agreements and Solutions (WAS) conference—indicated that they had either launched or were in the process of launching M2M services.
The survey results also revealed several important roaming issues.
Currently 70 percent of operators are unable to detect when M2M devices roam into their networks. These devices do not behave like people; some consume signaling but very little data, and the ones that are defective or poorly configured may cause significant network issues.
The survey showed that 75 percent of operators are not steering their outbound M2M devices to preferred partner networks for fear that devices will lose coverage during the steering process. This major industry issue prevents operators from optimizing their wholesales costs.
Furthermore, M2M is compounded by low ARPU, meaning unmanaged M2M roaming traffic may be costing operators significantly more without a comparable return.
“M2M/IoT has the potential to drive significant growth for operators,” said Guy Reiffer, VP Marketing and Partnerships at Starhome Mach. “However, they need the infrastructure to identify and manage the opportunities while maximizing revenue and minimizing risk.”