Global SIM shipments were estimated to be 5.2 billion in 2014 as LTE, NFC and M2M technologies emerged as the prevailing trends in the telco market, new research has revealed.
The study from ABI Research concluded that NFC secure element SIMs saw shipments grow over 150 percent last year. Meanwhile, shipments of M2M SIM technology were up 63 percent compared to 2013.
Higher investments in LTE markets across the United States, Japan and South Korea lead to an 83 percent growth in LTE SIMs being shipped.
In Europe, vendors are pushing for market dominance by amping up product development, ABI said. It found companies such as Gemalto, Oberthur Technologies, Morpho and G&D accounted for a combined 70 percent market share during the first half of 2014.
Dimitrios Pavlakis, Research Analyst at ABI, said: “Exploring global data we found that in 2014 we witnessed the crucial moment when technology curved at a higher percentage towards LTE.
“The board is set and LTE, NFC, and M2M are the rapidly increasing trends of the market. Global analysis in 2014 suggests 83% increase in LTE technology, 153% increase in SWP Secure Element SIM shipments, and 63% increase in MFF shipments since 2013.”
Earlier this month, a report by the Global Mobile Supplier Association (GSA) revealed that the number of global LTE networks grew by more than a quarter during 2014.
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