Latin America. The Latin American Internet of Things (IoT) market closed 2018 with 313 million connected IoT devices, according to figures from Frost & Sullivan, and will continue its advance to reach 995 million devices by 2023.
Thus, the period 2017-2023 will register a compound annual growth rate of 26.7 percent, according to Ignacio Perrone, ICT Research Manager for Latin America at Frost & Sullivan during the webinar The Impact of IoT: opportunities based on new business models, organized by 5G Americas.
The expert also pointed out that to take advantage of the benefits of IoT, companies will have to completely redesign their business model. "The ultimate goal should not only be to improve efficiency with the Internet of Things, we must also generate new sources of income via innovative business models to justify investment in the area," he explained.
And he remarked that "the biggest threats to companies do not come from established players, but from startups that disrupt the status quo."
For his part, the Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of 5G Americas, José Otero, stressed that IoT will configure a new paradigm and a new growth route for telecommunications in Latin America and globally for the coming decades.
"In Latin America we have mobile penetration above 100 percent, so growth in terms of human lines is defined by population growth. If we're going to grow, we're going to be connecting machine-to-machine (M2M) devices. That is why the minimum technical requirements for IMT-2020 (5G) the goal is to be able to connect one million devices per square kilometer. To achieve this, we will need radio spectrum in low, medium and high bands," Otero said.
