Smart Cities Cellular Connectivity Revenue to Exceed $3 billion by 2030
15th July 2025, London, UK: – New research by connectivity experts Kaleido Intelligence has found that cellular smart cities connectivity, ranging from smart streetlights to waste disposal and air quality monitoring, will generate over $3 billion in revenue in 2030. Smart traffic connectivity, driven by video analytics, will account for more than 60% of this over the forecast period.
The new research, Cellular IoT Connectivity: Smart Cities Opportunities 2025, shows how an array of different technologies are being combined in new ways to drive innovation in the sector. In particular, there is growing interest in using eSIM in smart cities use cases, which can intelligently and autonomously switch profiles to ensure connectivity endures in the event of a network outage. This is particularly vital for elements that require constant connectivity, such as public safety communications.
Video as a Core Driver for Data and Efficiencies
The report shows cellular data consumption in smart cities will more than double by 2030, as more use cases adopt video analytics for smart traffic monitoring, smart parking, municipal security and more. This includes the impact of edge computing, which Kaleido sees as vital to the progress of the sector. This will not only limit the cost of data transport, but also ensure local privacy laws are adhered to. As a result, we expect Europe, with the most comprehensive privacy and data laws, to have the slowest growth in cellular data traffic, showing a regional CAGR of 22% throughout the forecast period. This contrasts with growth rates closer to 30% for East Asia and Latin America.
East Asian and Latin American countries also typically have highly-centralised systems to roll out smart city deployments. In particular, cities across China, Taiwan and Singapore have strong central authorities that are keen to promote the use of technology in multiple contexts. As a result, the East Asia & Pacific region will have over 328 million connections in 2030, accounting for almost 60% of global smart cities cellular connections that year.
Smart Streetlights as a Platform for Innovation
With many cities having long established that LED streetlights save energy, and as such smart lights are among the slowest-growing sectors in the smart cities ecosystem. In addition, although the sector will exceed 240 million connections in 2030, the growth rate will have more than halved from 2025. However, their ubiquity means that they have become a platform for further innovation in the smart cities sector.
“Smart streetlights can be a way to bring numerous smart city services closer to residents and visitors,” remarked research author James Moar. “Using the same networks for multiple use cases can make the ROI on smart cities investments more obvious, but may require coordination between different elements of urban administration.”
About Kaleido Intelligence
Kaleido Intelligence is a specialist consulting and market research firm with a proven track record of delivering telecom research at the highest level. Kaleido Intelligence is the leading research company addressing mobile roaming and connectivity services in its entirety, covering industry-leading market insights, data forecasts, historical viewpoints, competitive intelligence and operator market surveys.
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