China Shows Potential of M2M In Realizing The Internet-of-Things

The GSMA, a Europe-based association of mobile operators dedicated to the standardization and promotion of GSM mobile telephone systems, recently released a report entitled How China is Set for Global M2M Leadership. According to the report, China will lead the M2M market worldwide, outperforming the US and European major M2M players.

In the report, GSMA noted that Asia currently holds 27% of the total market globally with more than 50 million connections, more than a quarter of the total market as of 2013 making Asia the largest market for M2M solutions. Asia currently has 40% of the total M2M connections worldwide, while Europe has 29%, America has 19%, Latin America at 7% and Africa at 4%. The study found that China is the primary reason for this growth in Asia, adding about 39 million connections in 2010 to 2013. It further pointed out that close collaboration among China's leading mobile operators made all this possible and prompting this massive growth.

The Director General and Member of the Board of GSMA, Anne Bouverot, said, "The demand from the energy and transportation industries in China had driven this growth while deployment of M2M solutions in automotive, heath care, education, smart city and retail sectors, is gaining momentum." "China's mobile operators are developing sophisticated M2M propositions that can go beyond the provision of basic connectivity. In many cases, they are providing end to end solutions, supported by systems integration and dedicated charging policies.", she further added.

Although Bouverot further pointed out that the three mobile operators in China - China mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, may need to work with partners that will help them create technological and commercial platforms that will foster the development of an ecosystem.

While their US and European counterparts are still trying to figure out how the Internet of Things will really look like, China's leading providers don't seem to have any qualms about this and are keen developing and deploying what is called as a "generic horizontal platform" that can be used across all sectors and can later on be enhanced to address specific application requirements and needs.

LeadingQuest and Parlacom Brazil CEO, Clovis Lacerda, said that Brazil can also benefit to this kind of collaboration. Mr. Lacerda said, "M2M providers and network operators can work hand in hand to bring innovative solutions to industrial sectors that are important to Brazil. Mining companies in Brazil are surely looking for M2M solutions that will help them increase efficiency and overall productivity."

Parlacom, one of the largest providers of M2M solutions in Brazil and Latin America, believes that such collaborations and collective effort can further advance not just Brazil but the whole Latin American M2M market. Mr. Lacerda salutes China for showing everyone in the world the real potential of M2M communication in bringing the Internet of Things right where it should be.

Machine-to-machine technology is said to be the closest thing at this point to realizing the Internet of Things. However, the study further emphasized that M2M communication and the Internet of Things' goal is to allow consumers to interact with data which should enable enterprises to deliver products and services that are highly personalized according to the consumer's needs and done almost in real time.