The operator has hired Akira Partners to help it find a buyer for a minority stake according to Sky News
After posting uninspiring annual results this week and plans to lay off 11,000 workers, Sky News reports that Vodafone has appointed Akira Partners to help it sell a stake in its IoT division.
The news channel cites unnamed sources claiming that Vodafone could sell up to 49% of the unit: the business is valued at about £1 billion. The offer is expected to appeal to private equity firms.
Parallel plans
Earlier this month, Vodafone announced a joint venture with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation to build a standalone Economy of Things division to raise additional funding.
That deal is undergoing regulatory approval; Vodafone will own 80% of the joint entity.
Vodafone’s IoT business was established in 2008 “and has grown to be the largest IoT connectivity provider globally,” its annual report states.
It had 150 million IoT SIM connections in 2022, up from 123 million the year before, and accounts for only 2% of service revenues for the fiscal year that concluded at the end of March.
Tough business environment
According to research published by IoT Analytics in February, overall enterprise IoT spending grew 21.5% in 2022 to $201 billion (€185.37 billion). IoT Analytics lowered its growth outlook for 2023 to 18.5% from 24% previously.
This is due to lower-than-expected economic growth and general insecurity in 2022 and 2023, according to the analyst firm, which looks likely to lead to cautious spending on digital transformation and IoT.
Fortune Business Insights is more upbeat, reckoning that the global IoT market will grow from $662.21 billion in 2023 to $3,352.97 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 26.1%. However, most IoT market prediction so far have proved somewhat optimistic.