How to make money with 5G? Surveillance!

Outdoor surveillance cameras are expected to be the largest market for 5G Internet of Things solutions globally for the next three years.

Analyst firm Gartner has forecast that the cameras are expected to represent 70 percent of the 5G IoT endpoint install base in 2020, on sales of 2.5 million devices. By 2021 sales will surge to 6.2 million units and then climb to 11.2 million units in 2022.

“Cameras deployed by city operators or used to ensure building security and provide intruder detection offer the largest addressable market as they are located outdoors, often across cities, and require cellular connectivity,” Gartner senior research director Stephanie Baghdassarian said.

Gartner said 5G capabilities open up new enterprise market opportunities, so communications service providers would benefit from assessing use cases and look to prioritise investment in building IoT solutions.

“Their investments should focus on outdoor surveillance cameras, connected cars, and government and physical security,” Baghdassarian said.

In 2023 however the market share for cameras is expected to shrink down to 32 percent, with connected cars expected to take over at 39 percent.

Gartner said embedded connected-car modules are the major use case for 5G within the automotive sector, expecting an installed base of 19.1 million units by 2023.

“The addressable market for embedded 5G connections in connected cars is growing faster than the overall growth in the 5G IoT sector,” Baghdassarian said.

“Commercial and consumer connected-car embedded 5G endpoints will represent 11 percent of all 5G endpoints installed in 2020, and this figure will reach 39 percent by the end of 2023.”