Narrowband IoT Market to Reach USD 17.3 Billion by 2035, Fueled by Smart Cities and AI-Driven Edge Analytics

Narrowband IoT Market to Reach USD 17.3 Billion by 2035, Driven by Smart City Deployments and AI-Enabled Edge Analytics
The global Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) market is projected to grow from USD 1.0 billion in 2025 to USD 17.3 billion by 2035, expanding at a CAGR of 29.2% during the forecast period. Growth is being propelled by large-scale smart city and utility deployments, the integration of NB-IoT with AI-enabled edge analytics, and expansion into global asset monitoring through satellite convergence.

According to MarketGenics, Asia Pacific leads the market with a 67.2% share, driven by government-backed infrastructure projects and massive urbanization initiatives across China, India, and South Korea.

Get the Detailed Industry Analysis (including the Table of Contents, List of Figures, and List of Tables) - from the Narrowband IoT Market Research Report: https://marketgenics.co/press-releases/narrowband-iot-market-80808

Recent Developments Shaping the NB-IoT Market
Vodafone Expands Smart Connectivity Ecosystem

In July 2025, Vodafone España launched a proprietary IoT platform built on its NB-IoT infrastructure, now supporting 9.3 million connected devices. The platform enables services such as smart water meters, wildfire detection sensors, teleassistance for the elderly, and connected emergency lighting systems for compliance with road safety mandates.

Strategic Acquisition by TRASNA Solutions

In March 2025, TRASNA Solutions acquired u-blox's cellular IoT module division, including its technology, IP, and staff. This move strengthens TRASNA's capabilities in NB-IoT module manufacturing and global device management services.

Cross-Border Roaming and Smart Metering Rollouts

Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom completed a pan-European NB-IoT roaming trial in June 2025, demonstrating seamless cross-border connectivity for smart meters and citywide applications. This milestone accelerates large-scale procurement decisions by utilities and governments across Europe.

Narrowband IoT Market Forecast 2035
The market is expected to create an incremental opportunity of USD 16.3 billion during 2025-2035.

Asia Pacific will dominate due to government-backed smart city rollouts and utility upgrades, holding 67.2% of global revenues by 2025.

Europe will see steady growth driven by widespread adoption of NB-IoT smart metering and pan-European roaming initiatives.

North America will expand gradually, with NB-IoT adoption in agriculture, logistics, and connected healthcare.

NB-IoT will play a pivotal role in powering smart utilities, connected healthcare, agriculture monitoring, and industrial automation through highly efficient, low-power, wide-area networks.

To know more about the Narrowband IoT Market - Download our Sample Report: https://marketgenics.co/download-report-sample/narrowband-iot-market-80808

Key Drivers, Challenges, and Opportunities
Driver - Nationwide Smart Meter and Utility Deployments

NB-IoT is emerging as the preferred connectivity solution for smart meters due to its low cost, deep indoor coverage, and multi-year battery life.

In June 2025, GSMA reported the success of a pan-European roaming trial enabling utilities to manage cross-border fleets of water, gas, and power meters seamlessly.

Millions of meters are expected to be replaced over the next decade.

NB-IoT offers simplified provisioning and predictable lifecycle management, reducing operational costs and field maintenance efforts.

This strong value proposition is fueling rapid adoption across utilities and municipal services worldwide.

Restraint - Fragmented Spectrum and Operator Inconsistencies

Global NB-IoT rollouts face delays due to non-uniform spectrum policies and inconsistent operator strategies.

Some operators are reallocating low-band spectrum for 5G expansion, while others continue investing in NB-IoT.

This fragmentation complicates module certification and cross-border deployment, increasing engineering overhead and procurement risks.

Enterprises planning global smart city or asset tracking projects may face delays or be forced into single-operator partnerships, limiting flexibility.

Opportunity - NB-IoT Integration with Satellite Networks (NTN)

The convergence of terrestrial NB-IoT with non-terrestrial satellite networks (NTN) opens vast new opportunities for remote and off-grid monitoring.

Applications include maritime logistics, agriculture, mining, and global asset tracking.

Hybrid NB-IoT/NTN modules are being certified for 2026 commercial rollouts, allowing single-device SKUs to operate across both terrestrial towers and satellites.

This lowers costs and expands NB-IoT to previously unreachable markets.

Example: Iridium and other satellite operators are investing in NB-IoT/NTN ecosystems to enable seamless global coverage for industries with widely distributed assets.

Key Trend - AI-Enabled Edge Analytics
NB-IoT is increasingly merging with AI-driven edge analytics to process data locally, reducing network usage and enabling real-time decision-making.

In March 2025, Qualcomm launched a new series of NB-IoT modems with integrated iSIM and cloud orchestration support for secure edge analytics.

Telecom vendors are embedding machine learning pipelines into NB-IoT connectivity, allowing predictive maintenance and anomaly detection without expensive uplink transmissions.

This convergence significantly lowers operational costs and creates premium value-added services, making NB-IoT more attractive to industries like utilities, manufacturing, and logistics.

Buy Now: https://marketgenics.co/buy/narrowband-iot-market-80808

Segmental Insights
Hardware Dominates with 75% Market Share

The hardware segment leads the NB-IoT market, driven by large-scale deployments of modules, chipsets, and gateways.

In April 2025, Qualcomm released its next-generation NB-IoT chipsets featuring integrated iSIM, reducing costs and improving device efficiencies.

Rapid growth in connected devices for utilities and smart cities continues to accelerate hardware demand globally.

Example: Huawei and China Telecom have significantly scaled NB-IoT smart water metering projects, boosting hardware shipments across Asia Pacific.

Regional Highlights
Asia Pacific:

Largest and fastest-growing region with 67.2% global share, fueled by smart city programs, utility digitization, and government support.

Example: In March 2025, Bharti Airtel partnered with Nokia to expand NB-IoT connectivity in India for agriculture, smart metering, and asset tracking.

Europe:

Strong growth driven by pan-European NB-IoT roaming, enabling seamless deployment for smart meters and public infrastructure.

North America:

Gradual adoption in agriculture, logistics, and healthcare, with expansion of NB-IoT-enabled wearables and remote patient monitoring.

Competitive Landscape
The NB-IoT market is highly consolidated, with the top five players controlling over 65% of global market share in 2025.

Tier 1 Leaders:

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Ericsson

Nokia

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

China Mobile

Tier 2 Players:

u-blox

Sierra Wireless

Telit Cinterion

Tier 3 and Regional Vendors:

Specialized firms focusing on niche deployments and localized solutions.

Competition remains intense as players race to integrate iSIM, satellite convergence, and AI-powered analytics into their solutions.

Future Outlook
By 2035, NB-IoT will form the connective backbone of smart cities and industrial IoT ecosystems, linking billions of devices with low-power, wide-area coverage.
Key growth frontiers will include:

Global off-grid monitoring through NB-IoT + satellite convergence

AI-driven predictive maintenance at the edge

Smart utilities and cross-border asset tracking

Healthcare wearables for remote patient monitoring

As deployments scale, NB-IoT will continue to redefine connectivity for both developed and emerging markets.

Get a preview of our Narrowband IoT Market Playbook - your guide to GTM strategy, competitive intelligence, supplier dynamics, and Consumer Behavior Analysis: https://marketgenics.co/playbook/narrowband-iot-market-80808

Prominent Companies Operating in the Global NB-IoT Market:

Huawei Technologies, Qualcomm Technologies, Samsung Electronics, MediaTek, Intel Corporation, Ericsson, Nokia, China Mobile, u-blox, Sierra Wireless, Telit Cinterion, and other key players.

About Us

MarketGenics is a global market research and management consulting company empowering decision makers across healthcare, technology, and policy domains. Our mission is to deliver granular market intelligence combined with strategic foresight to accelerate sustainable growth.

We support clients across strategy development, product innovation, healthcare infrastructure, and digital transformation.

Contact:

Mr. Debashish Roy

MarketGenics India Pvt. Ltd.

800 N King Street, Suite 304 #4208, Wilmington, DE 19801, United States

USA: +1 (302) 303-2617

Email: sales@marketgenics.co

Website: https://marketgenics.co

This release was published on openPR.