With restrictions on movement arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to remotely monitor and control assets has become even more important. Indeed, the need to lock down large parts of society and the economy has underlined the importance of connectivity to keep key facilities, such as power plants and distribution hubs, running during times of crisis. The public sector is now therefore making far greater use worldwide of IoT technology to monitor infrastructure and assets to improve citizens’ safety and living environments. Forecasts now show that governments’ spending on endpoint electronics and communications will rise 22% in 2022, to $21 billion globally. More than half that spending will be on outdoor camera systems, comprising devices that harness advanced image recognition and video analytics techniques, as well as the speed and responsiveness of 5G networks.

At the same time, many organizations are using the falling cost of LPWA connectivity to bring vast numbers of battery-powered sensors and actuators online. This technology offers an increasingly cost-effective and power-efficient means of monitoring and controlling a very wide range of assets – LPWA networks are being used to check things as various as whether a parking space is occupied, a bin is full, or a refrigeration unit is about to defrost. As 4G and 5G networks expand over the next decade, billions more devices and machines will come online and the real-time information generated will give both consumers and companies much greater control of their destinies.