Mexico to invest US$620mn in IoT in 2015 - IDC

Mexico will invest US$620mn in expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and devices in 2015, some 12.7% more than in 2014, according to consultancy IDC. Last year the country spent US$550mn on connected objects.

The increase in investment follows a global and regional trend. The consultancy said that Latin America is expected to invest US$8.8bn in IoT this year, mostly in transportation, government, manufacturing and public services.

"Interaction and communication between different sectors of society is fundamental for the IoT ecosystem to develop," said Diego Anesini, Latin America research director at IDC.

The consultancy said in July that the number of connected objects in Latin America will grow to 827mn by 2020, up from 244mn in 2014. This is equivalent to a CAGR of 22.5%, compared to the 19.2% CAGR expected globally.

Despite the expected rapid growth, Latin American companies are only devoting a small chunk of their IT budgets to IoT in comparison with the rest of the world. According to Indian IT outsourcing company Tata Consulting Services (TCS), Latin American companies will spend 0.23% of their IT budgets on IoT initiatives in 2015, as opposed to 0.45% in North America, 0.40% in Europe and 0.34% in Asia-Pacific.