SA IoT Market 2025

 

Introduction

The SA IoT Market Report provides an overview of the dynamic South Africa IoT Market. It explores the latest local trends, drivers and challenges impacting IoT adoption in South Africa against a backdrop of the many significant global trends and technology developments in the industry right now.

A market sizing overview of the South Africa IoT market is provided, with a five-year forecast of IoT connections and revenues in each service layer by top-level category.

The Report goes on to provide competitor profiles of top local IoT companies across the value chain, spanning various industries and then provides real-world use cases of IoT

Table of Contents

Market Summary

Overview of IoT Market

Definitions and Value Chain

Value Chain Overview

Overview of typical IoT system elements and activities

International Trends
  • IoT growth as more of a marathon than a sprint, with the pace is quickening
  • IoT adoption trends – IoT devices
  • IoT adoption trends – revenue potential
  • Global IoT adoption trends
  • Adoption of IoT will transform global supply chains
  • International Connectivity Trends
  • International and Regional IoT connectivity trends
  • Global IoT adoption trends: Use Cases 
  • Global IoT adoption trends: Use Cases in Agriculture
  • Global IoT adoption trends: Use Cases in Mining, Fleet Management, Smart Buildings and the Automotive Industry
  • Global IoT adoption trends: Use Cases in Metering, Disaster Response and EWS
  • General Trends Impacting All Verticals (Focusing on Use Case implications)
  • Global IoT adoption trends in the home and technology matching
  • Requirements for future cities drive a strong investment case for smart city technologies
  • The growing digital twin cities concept 
  • DestinE is an ambitious project running a digital twin of Earth
  • DestinE Phase 2
  • Green economies and de-carbonisation will be one of the biggest drivers of IoT
  • Skill shortages as an ongoing a barrier to IoT deployment
  • Interoperability “Matters”
  • Mobile operator platforms which simplify IoT deployment
  • Open source and proprietary platforms
  • Acceleration in AI and IoT Video Analytics
  • Existing and core business models
  • Future business models
Technology Advancements
  • Increased adoption of Edge Computing is expected to supplement IoT
  • Examples of Edge Computing for IoT
  • Edge Computing for IoT also extends to on-site devices
  • Horses for Courses – Functional properties required for different IoT Use Cases
  • Private LTE/5G networks for IoT applications
  • Mesh Networks for Port Mobility & Autonomy
  • The LPWAN technology landscape
  • IoT technology landscape and focus on Licensed Cellular IoT
  • IoT Connections forecasts by network type
  • Global connected devices forecasts
  • IoT use cases emerging with 5G standalone networks and 5G RedCap technology
  • NB-IoT, LTE-M, RedCap and eRedCap in the context of 5G
  • Progress on 3GPP for NTN (Satellite and Terrestrial Network) Interoperability
  • Examples of Satellite IoT
  • Progress towards 6G IoT by 2030
  • 2G and 3G sunsetting on the horizon in many countries
  • LPWAN expanding rapidly, while NB-IoT and LoRaWAN continue to dominate
  • Wi-Fi for low power devices
  • Wi-SUN Alliance
  • LoRaWAN
  • Comparison between LoRaWAN, Sigfox and NB-IoT for private networks
  • Community (LoRaWAN) networks: The Things Network
  • Community (LoRaWAN) networks: Amazon Sidewalk
  • Community (LoRaWAN) networks: Helium
  • Community networks: Helium – 5G
  • The rise of community networks: Helium in South Africa
  • Hardware innovation and price reductions leading to increased sustainability and solution development 
  • Passive sensing – an exciting emerging capability, particularly when AI combined
  • Hybridisation and Convergence of IOT and Scada ecosystems
  • Examples of Scada and IoT convergence 
  • Data Enrichment & Data Quality
  • Interdependency between IoT and Asset Management
  • Physical vs Embedded vs Integrated SIM Cards
Local IoT Drivers
  • Overview of Local IoT Drivers
  • Data driven efficiency, assurance and agility drive smarter operations
  • Maturation of IoT technology ecosystems – including LoRa
  • Growing demand for private IoT networks
  • Local players becoming global centres of competence
  • Current and potential local IoT application in key verticals
  • Which verticals and use cases are growing in SA?
  • Vehicle telematics as a leading IoT contributor in SA
  • Vehicle and Industrial Equipment OEMs are increasingly relevant in IOT growth
  • Smart Metering Tenders
  • Agriculture – one of the top verticals gaining attention
  • Increasing interest in creating smart buildings
  • New IoT systems reducing the cost of Industrial Control Systems
  • IoT Integration sparking a revolution in Retail and POS Technology
  • The FRMCS replacement of GSM-R will Revolutionise IoT in Railways 
  • IoT plays a role in other key trends such as the development of the metaverse and the emergence of ‘living intelligence’
Local IoT Challenges
  • Local IoT Challenges Overview
  • Lack of IoT understanding and the fear of job losses
  • IoT implementation approaches are specific to each organisation
  • Cybersecurity as a key concern in IoT ecosystems
  • IOT Security Challenges & Mitigations 
  • IoT projects must overcome a ‘silo mentality’ to be effective
  • SA’s 2G and 3G sunsets are on the horizon, and the 2G ‘long tail’ 
  • Migration of legacy GSM customers to LTE – complex and costly
  • Approaches and Strategy for Technology (2G/3G) 
  • Implementation costs need to reduce, whilst investment in innovation must increase
Local IoT Trends and Emerging Developments
  • Local IoT Trends and Emerging Developments Overview
  • Increased adoption of Edge Computing expected to supplement and support IoT
  • Interoperability as an important industry goal
  • IoT as a useful enabler of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices
South Africa Smart City Framework
  • Metros on an early journey to becoming smart cities
  • The City of Cape Town’s Smart City Evolution
  • Government announcements indicate their support of smart cities
  • COGTA and SALGA Smart City Framework
SA IoT Market Sizing and Forecast
  • Market Sizing Methodology
  • Taxonomy
  • IoT SA Market Sizing and Forecast – Connections
  • IoT SA Market Sizing and Forecast – Revenue
SA IoT Competitor Profiles – Wireless Operators
  • The IoT Wireless Coverage Landscape
  • Network Providers
  • Network enablers, virtual/aggregator players & potential new entrants
IOT Solution Integration Providers
  • Key IoT Business to Business Platforms
SA IoT Case Studies
  • Cape Agulhas Municipality transition towards a Smart City 2.0
  • Cape Agulhas Municipality transition towards a Smart City 2.0
  • Standard Bank launches digital insurance claims journey aimed at homeowners with Digicall Group & Sensor Networks
  • Halving costs with Electric SMART scooter solution for delivery operations
  • Vodacom’s wearable devices set to boost mineworker safety
  • eSUMS addresses rising utility expenditures as well as climate change
Annexure: Enterprise Survey 2024 Selected Results 
  • Survey Methodology
  • IoT Use Cases Adopted
  • IoT Connectivity Types Employed
  • IoT Budgets, Providers and Platforms
Annexure:  Summary Examples of IoT Players Active in SA
  • Global & Major Telecom / Technology Players Active in South Africa
  • Local IoT System Integrators & Solution Developers
  • Local IoT System Integrators & Solution Developers
  • Examples of Satellite-based IoT Players (global)
Deliverables and format
  • Rich narrative PowerPoint descriptive document
  • Online presentation (in PowerPoint format)

Further information

For further information and details on how to subscribe to this research please contact Anita Mathews on 011 540 8000 | 082 466 2317 | anita@bmit.africa

For more information on BMI-T and our research and consulting services please visit www.bmit.africa