LPWA Connectivity to Remain Dominant Across Smart City Segments, with 5G Representing Less Than 2% of All Cellular Connections in 2026

NEW YORK, Feb. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite the important investments in 5G networks, the uptake of 5G across smart city segments will remain very low over the next five years.  Global tech market advisory firm ABI Research finds that of all cellular smart city connections, 75% will ride on LPWA LTE networks (Cat 1, Cat M, NB-IoT) in 2026, with around only 1.6% powered by 5G, accounting for less than 10 million connections globally.

"Next to the time needed to deploy 5G networks globally, there are two main reasons for the low uptake of 5G in smart cities applications," says Dominique Bonte, VP End Markets and Verticals at ABI Research. "First, there is a high proportion of fixed lines, including fiber for connecting non-mobile applications like commercial buildings, signage, ITS, kiosks, smart electricity and gas meters, and surveillance. Second, where cellular is used, LPWA technologies are favored. This is due to the low bandwidth requirements for telemetry type applications such as smart streetlights, smart parking, metering, and smart bins, many of which are also connected via non-cellular, proprietary LPWA connectivity such as LoRa."

However, in the longer term, new 5G use cases will emerge across a wide range of smart city segments, mostly centered around low latency, mission-critical services:

• Remote monitoring and control of unmanned assets like drones, robots, and driverless vehicles
• ITS applications like Intelligent Cooperative Traffic Lights and Emergency Vehicle Preemption
• Remote healthcare services in ambulances
• AI-base surveillance and security monitoring
• Low latency edge cloud applications for demand-response and active security solutions

These findings are from ABI Research's Smart Cities market data report. This report is part of the company's Smart Cities and Smart Spaces research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights. Market Data spreadsheets are composed of deep data, market share analysis, and highly segmented, service-specific forecasts to provide detailed insight where opportunities lie.

About ABI Research
ABI Research provides strategic guidance to visionaries, delivering actionable intelligence on the transformative technologies that are dramatically reshaping industries, economies, and workforces across the world. ABI Research's global team of analysts publish groundbreaking studies often years ahead of other technology advisory firms, empowering our clients to stay ahead of their markets and their competitors. 

ABI Research提供开创性的研究和战略指导，帮助客户了解日新月异的技术。 自1990年以来，我们已与全球数百个领先的技术品牌，尖端公司，具有远见的政府机构以及创新的贸易团体建立了合作关系。 我们帮助客户创造真实的业务成果。 

For more information about ABI Research's services, contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific or visit www.abiresearch.com.

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