GSMA Intelligence predicted IoT net additions in 2020 would almost halve year-on-year due to the impact of Covid-19 (coronavirus), but stood by long-term forecasts for overall connection numbers as it expects enterprises to swiftly adapt to the new operating environment.

In a report, the analyst company tipped net additions to drop 45 per cent this year due to the impact of the pandemic. It did, however, keep its prediction total IoT connection numbers would double between 2019 and 2025, with the market buoyed by enterprises adjusting to the “new normal” in the wake of the outbreak.

Report authors Sylwia Kechiche and Alex Gharibian explained the expected decline in IoT additions and a related slowdown in overall connections growth reflected a mixture of a short-term impact balanced by stronger adoption of IoT across enterprise verticals over the forecast period.

However, the company emphasised enterprises which lag in IoT adoption could face insolvency or even bankruptcy.

GSMA Intelligence highlighted the Asia-Pacific IoT market as the least-affected by Covid-19 due to strong government support.

The company suggested the crisis would leave “a long-lasting legacy in terms of faster innovation” and expected digital transformation of companies to be driven by swifter adoption of  IoT, AI and machine learning, and 5G technologies.

It also forecast the enterprise IoT segment to recover more swiftly than the consumer field, as companies embrace digital transformation and deployments at scale.