City-wide applications and the corporate market are two potential areas for success.
From phones and tablets to wearables, the trend is fast moving towards an Internet of Things (IoT), but the real question is who owns the connections and, more importantly, how can operators make money out of the IoT.
The IoT is not the only emerging entity that is attracting massive disruption. Almost every industry on earth is changing at unprecedented rates. Not least, the previously comfortable world of operators. They are already adjusting from a high margin, stable business model to a low margin, lean and agile one. Culture, as well as IT, is standing in their way. Culture within operators tends to frown upon innovation, because in the old days the job was to look after the network. Now, even the business of providing the network is under threat.
In the IoT arena, other, leaner, companies are stepping in to provide the access piece for cellular networks. Sigfox, for example, is rolling out a low cost network, with low cost and low maintenance devices that make the traditional cellular network a high price option for the connectivity.