Grid Operations: 157 million connected devices by 2035 driving digitalisation across electricity, gas, and water grids

Internet of Things
IoT
Hyperconnectivity
Big Data
Electricity Grid
Energy
Gas Grid
Microgrid
Predictive Analytics
Renewable Energy
Substation
Smart Grid
Sustainability
Transmission and Distribution
T&D
Utilities
Utility Provider
Water Grid

Nikita Singh
Matt Arnott

This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the use of IoT in the management and operation of smart grids. This comprises electricity, gas, water, and sewage infrastructure. The transition from traditional to smart grid operations is a significant IoT initiative transforming the supply of all three utilities (water, electricity, and gas) worldwide. In 2035, there will be 157 million grid operation devices. This report examines the reasons behind the increasing adoption of smart grids, modernisation of traditional grids, and automation of distribution systems, substations, and power regulation stations. The report also assesses the management of infrastructure, use cases, and example deployments by vendors across the three utilities. Electricity smart grid monitoring is vital for the successful implementation of distributed energy resources, load balancing and microgeneration. Electricity grids also leverage artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and big data for load forecasting and to prevent energy losses in the system. Climate change, increasing demand for electricity, and use of alternative energy sources (such as renewables) are the key reasons driving smart electricity grid operations. In contrast, the use of IoT monitoring and management in smart water grids is less developed. However, it is becoming vital as it deals with multiple issues related to water scarcity, losses, droughts, floods, and reduced water security. Gas smart grids are crucial in reducing carbon emissions, improving energy independence, and detecting gas leakages and faults. These grids also promote the use of more sustainable natural gas alternatives such as biogas, biomethane, and hydrogen. The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development, and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used (including splits by 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, LPWA, short range, satellite and others), as well as the revenue split between module, value-added connectivity and services. A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector break-downs and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.

ABB
Anglian Water
Transmission Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
BC Hydro
Cisco
DTE Energy
DTEK
Enedis
Etrel
E.ON
Flowserve
GE Vernova
Google
Hawaiian Electric Company
Hitachi
Huawei
Itron
Landis+Gyr
Ministry of Economy
Trade and Industry (METI) Philippines
National Grid
National smart water grid (NSWG)
Orange
SEQ water grid
Schneider Electric
Siemens Energy
Stedin
Smart Water Grid Research Group (SWGRG)
State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC)
Transener
Verizon
Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB)
Ukrenergo

Internet of Things
Hyperconnectivity

Electricity, Gas, Steam & A/C
Government
Water Supply & Waste Management

Webinar – Transforma Insights’ annual global IoT market forecast update

IoT
Internet if Things
connectivity
AIOT
AI
Forecasts
analyst
webinar
5G
4G
LPWA
NB-IoT
LTE-M
mobile private networks
MPN
private wireless

Matt Arnott
Jim Morrish

World’s leading Internet of Things analyst firm presents its annual review of the evolution of the IoT market through to 2035. Transforma Insights analysts provide our annual snapshot of the current state and future prognosis for the IoT market, giving you the most grounded perspective on what we can expect over the next decade. Transforma Insights has long had a reputation for the most granular and rigorously researched forecasts of IoT and in the webinar we will share the highlights.

Internet of Things

Global IoT Forecast Report, 2025-2035

Internet of Things
IoT
forecast
connections
revenue
technology
LPWA
5G

Matt Arnott

This report provides a snapshot of the state of the IoT market in 2025 and forecasts to 2035. It is compiled based on data extracted from the Transforma Insights IoT Forecast Database, specifically the IoT ‘Connected Things’ forecasts. The forecasts are constantly updated and cover hundreds of applications across 21 vertical sectors and 196 countries.

Hyperconnectivity
Internet of Things

Supporting Infrastructure for Power Utilities: Physical, Digital and Connectivity Systems

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Cloud computing
Distributed Energy Resource (DER)
Electricity Smart Meters
Gas Smart Meters
Grid Intelligence
IoT
Managed Services
Meter Data Management (MDM)
Outage Management System (OMS)
Private Networks
Smart Grid
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
Utilities
Water Smart Meters

Nikita Singh

Power utilities are transitioning from siloed, hardware-centric systems to intelligent, connected infrastructures that seamlessly integrate generation, transmission, and distribution. This shift reflects a broader transformation of how energy systems are designed and operated. At the core of this evolution is a significant wave of digital transformation, driven by the urgent need for grid modernisation, the integration of renewable energy sources, and improved operational efficiency.

ABB
Aidon
Amazon (AWS)
Apator
Cisco
Eaton Corporation PLC
EcoPhi
EMH Metering
Ericsson
Fuji Electric
GE Vernova
Google Cloud
Grid4C
Hitachi Energy
HOMER Energy
Honeywell
HPE Juniper Networks
Huawei
IBM
Inductive Automation
Intel
Itron
Iskraemeco
Kamstrup
Landis+Gyr
Microsoft Azure
Nokia
Oracle Utilities
Power Analytics Global Corporation
S&C Electric Company
Sagemcom
SAS Institute
Schneider Electric
Siemens Energy
Stem
Survalent Technology
Tata Communications
Toshiba
Uplight
VIVAVIS AG
Wirepas
Xylem
ZPA Smart Energy

Edge Computing
Hyperconnectivity
Artificial Intelligence
Internet of Things

Electricity, Gas, Steam & A/C

Webinar – Delivering resilient IoT connectivity at scale in a rapidly evolving technical, commercial and regulatory landscape

Internet of Things
IoT
5G
eSIM
resilience
rSIM
connectivity
compliance
security

Matt Hatton

Transforma Insights and CSL Group, the leading provider of secure IoT connectivity solutions, discuss the reality of how to meet the demands of today’s IoT, what resilient connectivity really looks like, and how it’s delivered at scale.

CSL Group

Internet of Things
Edge Computing
Hyperconnectivity
Artificial Intelligence

Community Heating: A slow growing market with 98 million devices by 2035, fueled by climate resilience and energy-saving requirements

Internet of Things
IoT
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)
Carbon Emissions
District Cooling
District Heating
Individual Heating
Generation Plants
Geothermal Energy
Grid Operations
Load Balancing
Renewable Energy
Smart Energy
Smart Grids
Smart Heat Meters
Smart Meters
Sustainability

Nikita Singh
Matt Arnott

This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the use of IoT to support Community Heating. Community Heating (CH) involves generating heat in a centralised location and then distributing the heat across businesses, residences, and industrial facilities. Community heating is most common in colder countries, particularly the Nordic countries, China, Russia, and some parts of North America. Some of the prominent advantages of community heating solutions are energy saving, reduced carbon emissions, and improved load balancing when compared to traditional heating solutions. Government initiatives and schemes have supported the expansion of the community heating market, recognising its environmental benefits in densely populated areas and its potential to create jobs due to significant infrastructure investment. AI-driven data centres are a major source of recent growth. These facilities are increasingly being designed not just for computing power but also as sources of community heating, with waste heat from servers being redirected into district heating networks to warm homes, campuses, and even farms. Community heating and cooling systems are gaining traction, yet their deployment is still far behind individual solutions. This is because of several disadvantages, including lack of scalability in less densely populated areas, billing complexities, irregular heat distribution, lack of user control, and issues such as overheating in less sophisticated systems. To improve efficiency, CH systems are increasingly using smart heat meters to measure consumption, detect faults remotely, support load balancing, and reduce carbon emissions. The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used (including splits by 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, LPWA, short range, satellite and others), as well as the revenue split between module, value-added connectivity and services. A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector break-downs and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.

Avara
Caofeidian Heat Company
Cetetherm
Danfoss
Engie SA
Ennatuurlijk
European Commission
Landis+Gyr
State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC)
Vattenfall
Veolia
Vital Energi

Artificial Intelligence
Hyperconnectivity
Internet of Things

Electricity, Gas, Steam & A/C

Single Pane of Glass (SPOG) abstraction platforms will evolve to become Distributed Workflow Management platforms

Artificial Intelligence
AI
Distributed Workflow Management
DWM
Edge Computing
Hyperconnectivity
Internet of Things
IoT
Single Pane of Glass
SPOG
Workflow Management.

Jim Morrish

In recent years, the term SPOG has gained traction in cellular IoT markets, referring to Single Pane Of Glass interfaces for cellular IoT. In fact, SPOG is a decades-old generic IT industry term used to refer to the aggregation of many different data points into an intelligible dashboard. Rediscovered for cellular IoT, the term is now being used to refer to the abstraction of cellular connectivity and associated Connectivity Management Platforms (CMPs) so that one single interface (a SPOG platform) can provide visibility into the status of, and control over, connections potentially supported by different cellular networks and/or different CMPs.

Aeris
Cisco
SAP
ServiceNow.

Hyperconnectivity
Internet of Things
Artificial Intelligence
Edge Computing
Data Sharing

Industrial AI takes the spotlight at Siemens Innovation Day 2026

Artificial Intelligence
AI
Internet of Things
IoT
AI Factories
AI
Autonomous Buildings
Building Automation
Data Centre
Digital Twins
Industrial AI
Intelligent Automation
Industrial Simulation
Copilot
Predictive Maintenance
Mobility
Digital Grids
Semiconductors.

Suruchi Dhingra

Siemens Innovation Day 2026, held on 6th March 2026 at Fairmont Mumbai, India is Siemens’ flagship innovation forum in India. The event brings together senior leadership, media, analysts, customers and ecosystem partners to discuss how emerging technologies are transforming industry and infrastructure. This year’s agenda highlighted the transformative potential of industrial AI across industries and the transition towards AI factories. The key solutions showcased this year focused on enabling future-ready Indian enterprises, including industrial AI, industrial simulation, AI factories, digital grids, autonomous buildings, digital twins, next-generation automation, and advanced energy systems. Sector-specific discussions spanned automotive, mobility, data centres, buildings, power utilities, and semiconductors. Siemens has deployed over 700 digital references across India in collaboration with 25 ecosystem partners. This report focuses on key insights and takeaways from Siemens Innovation Day, structured around the key themes discussed during the event: industrial AI, industrial simulation, AI-powered semiconductors, and AI factories.

Addverb
HD Hyundai
Nvent
NVIDIA
Siemens

Internet of Things
Artificial Intelligence

Manufacturing
Electricity, Gas, Steam & A/C
Transportation & Storage

Regulations governing global IoT connectivity: permanent roaming and related considerations

Internet of Things
IoT
eSIM
eSIM Licensing
eSIM provisioning
roaming fees
fair use policy
wholesale roaming charges
retail roaming chargers
MNO
OTA (Over-the-Air) eSIM Provisioning
IMEI Registration
Roaming
National Roaming
Permanent Roaming
SM-DP+ servers
International Mobile Equipment Identity

Suruchi Dhingra

Deploying cross-border cellular IoT solutions will often introduce regulatory challenges. Companies must navigate a complex landscape of local telecommunications, spectrum, and data regulations to ensure their devices operate legally and securely in foreign countries. This report examines the regulatory environment surrounding cellular IoT, highlighting some of the key regulatory themes that could create friction in multi-national deployments. It examines the regulations that companies must consider when deploying or importing cellular IoT solutions into different countries. Understanding and adhering to these rules is essential for avoiding penalties, ensuring uninterrupted service, and enabling the seamless operation of cellular IoT devices worldwide. In this report, we examine four key areas of regulation: Permanent roaming: The need for seamless international connectivity is often enabled through roaming, which allows IoT/M2M SIMs to operate continuously across borders without switching to SIM credentials associated with a local operator. This ensures devices remain functional while complying with international deployment requirements. Roaming becomes ‘permanent’ when a device continuously operates on a foreign network for an extended duration, typically beyond 90-120 days. Permanent roaming regulations are particularly relevant for devices intended for cross-border supply, which may stay in the importing country for extended periods or even for the device’s lifetime. Cellular device registration and associated taxes: These are regulations and other obligations related to registration of IoT hardware, mostly cellular IoT devices. For example, foreign cellular devices may need to have their IMEI registered with local authorities or network operators to access local networks beyond a certain grace period and potentially pay a fee. eSIM provisioning: There is an increasing amount of regulation concerning who can provision eSIMs, and how eSIM data can be stored, transferred and shared. These rules are emerging for three main reasons: personal data privacy, and national data sovereignty and security. Roaming fees: These are regulations related to fees for international (or national) roaming, including maximum and minimum fees. Wholesale roaming fees are charges that a home operator pays the visited operator so that home network devices can connect to visited networks. Retail roaming fees are charges that a home operator charges to their customers using networks in foreign country, or other visited network. Know Your Customer (KYC) is also an important aspect of regulation to consider when deploying cross-border IoT solutions. This topic has been covered in detail in a separate report ‘The current status of Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations for IoT SIMs’. As part of our examination of permanent roaming rules and guidelines, we approached regulators from over 80 countries to seek clarification on laws in their country and check for rules related to permanent roaming, roaming fees, operator resistance to permanent roaming, licensing for IoT and roaming fair use. The findings of this report are based on the responses received from these regulators combined with information available on regulator websites and government publications (or similar) identified through secondary research.

DoT (Department of Telecommunications) India
Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) China
Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel) Chile
Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
ARCOTEL Ecuador
DEKRA Chile
LB Technology
Multibanda

Hyperconnectivity
Internet of Things

Virtual Briefing - Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations for IoT SIMs and eSIMs

Internet of Things
IoT
contract SIM
connected cars
customer verification
data-only SIM
eSIM
IoT service provider
IoT security
internet of vehicles
Know Your Customer
KYC
KYC regulations
M2M
machine to machine
M2M service provider
M2MSP
pay-as-you-go SIM
postpaid customers
prepaid SIM
roaming SIM
SIM registration
SIM verification
smart watches
telecom services
tourist SIMs

Jim Morrish
Suruchi Dhingra

The regulatory environment around cellular-based connectivity for IoT is becoming increasingly complex, with new rules emerging in many countries and existing rules evolving. Governments and regulatory bodies are tightening requirements around permanent roaming, data privacy, cross-border data flows, security and more, all of which have a direct impact on how IoT services can be deployed and operated. While these regulations generally aim to ensure fair competition, consumer protection, and safeguard national interests, they often create uncertainty for connectivity providers, IoT solution providers and enterprise end-users.

Hyperconnectivity
Internet of Things

Below is a list of Transforma Insights' research reports on Digital Transformation, IoT, AI and other disruptive technologies. Our 'Essential' subscribers can access a select sub-set of the reports as 'Essential Reading'. User Group members can access exclusive 'User Group' content. Some reports (e.g. Peer Benchmarking) are only available to 'Corporate' users. For details on how to upgrade your subscriptions, check your Profile page. If you would like to speak with our analysts about the content of any report, or any other topic, please contact enquiries@transformainsights.com.