LPWA Networks Will Generate $23 Billion in Connection Revenues in 2020, Researchers Say

Low power wide area (LPWA) networks are expected to generate $23 Billion in service revenue by 2020, according to ReportsnReports.

By 2020, low power wide area IoT networks will represent about 65 percent of all IoT device connections, with roughly 35 percent of all LPWA profile IoT devices will be served by NB-IoT, LTE Cat-M1 and EC-GSM-IoT networks, according to ReportsnReports.

With the recent completion of the NB-IoT, LTE Cat-M1 and EC-GSM-IoT standards by the 3GPP, mobile operators are aggressively investing in software upgrades to build their own carrier-grade LPWA networks.

In the fourth quarter of 2016,, ReportsnReports estimates the cost of a typical LPWA module to be $4-18. As Low Power Wide Area network deployments mature, the researchers expect the cost per module could drop as low as $1 to $2 in volume quantities.