AT&T Exceeds Verizon in US M2M Communication Market

By Narayan Bhat, TMCnet Contributor

The worldwide number of mobile network connections used for wireless M2M (machine-to-machine) communication reached 81.4 million at the end of 2010, up 46 percent year-on-year, according to market analyst firm Berg Insight.

Going by its report, U.S. telecom giant AT&T outperformed its rival Verizon Wireless to become the world's largest provider of wireless M2M connectivity services last year, reporting 9.3 million subscribers in Q4-2010.

An increasing number of wirelessly enabled consumer products and the mobile communication industry’s increased focus on M2M applications are fueling the growth, according to preliminary data collected by the research firm.

 The U.S. and Japan recorded growth rates of 52 percent and 60 percent respectively, mainly driven by connected devices such as e-book readers and digital photo frames, according to the researcher.

Yet Europe is a step ahead in the race as the number of M2M subscribers there has increased 43 percent to 29.5 million. North America was up 51 percent to 23.6 million, followed by Asia-Pacific, growing by 53 percent to 19.6 million.

AT&T (News - Alert), according to the researcher, added 4.7 million machines and consumer devices with embedded connectivity during 2010, almost doubling its subscriber base. Meanwhile the previous market leader Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless was demoted to second place reporting 8.1 million M2M subscribers at end of 2010, despite adding 1.2 million connections over the year.

Berg Insight estimates that Vodafone, which does not currently disclose its number of M2M subscribers, ranked third in the range of 7 to 8 million connections. China Mobile was estimated to be in the fourth place with around 6 million connections, followed by T-Mobile at approximately 5 million. Telefónica, Telenor, Orange (News - Alert), Sprint and America Móvil were other top ten players with 2 to 4 million connections each.

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(source: http://m2m.tmcnet.com/topics/m2mevolution/articles/140767-att-exceeds-verizon-us-m2m-communication-market.htm)