Mobile machine-to-machine (M2M)/Internet of Things (IoT) services revenue in South Korea is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6% from $578 million in 2024 to approximately $900 million in 2029.
Growth will be driven by 5G advances, digital infrastructure expansion and increasing efforts by telecommunications companies to advance new M2M/IoT use cases, predicts GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s South Korea Mobile Broadband Forecast (Q3 2025) shows that the country already has a high 5G penetration rate of around 130% as of 2024, proving crucial for the expansion of M2M/IoT services. Government initiatives to promote digital transformation and government-sponsored smart manufacturing programs will also increase the demand for M2M/IoT connectivity in the country during the forecast period.
That of the government Smart Manufacturing Program aims to increase the adoption of automation, AI and IoT across all industries, including manufacturing, textiles and automotive. The government is also offering financial incentives to encourage small and medium-sized businesses to use these technologies to accelerate change. For example, this year the government announced the launch of a $2.2 million smart factory initiative to encourage food processing SMEs to adopt smart manufacturing operations.
Neha Mishra, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The evolving use cases for M2M/IoT in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, transportation, etc., as well as digital infrastructure applications such as smart cities, smart buildings and smart grids, with telcos also offering connectivity plans tailored to these applications, will add traction to the M2M/IoT market.”
For example, in July 2025, KT partnered with US technology company Trimble to provide a unified location and correction services solution designed for vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems and vehicle-to-everything capabilities. This enables improved connectivity and increases effectiveness in a variety of applications, including IoT deployments such as smart city infrastructure, advanced field robotics and software-defined vehicles.
Mishra adds: “SK Telecom, thanks to its investments in 5G and IoT technologies and its strong focus on the enterprise segment, is poised to lead the M2M/IoT services market in South Korea by subscriber share by 2029. The company’s M2M/IoT offerings in areas such as smart utilities and connected transportation help the operator capture opportunities in the market.”
The increasing demand for reliable, high data rate, low latency connectivity for enterprise-grade IoT deployments will significantly transform the country’s mobile services landscape.
Mishra concludes:
“Operators that focus on improving network reliability for IoT applications and bundle tailored data-centric IoT services such as device management platforms and tailored industry solutions will be well positioned to capitalize on this trend and unlock long-term revenue potential.”
