THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS
The cost required to build Wi-SUN compatible products is high due to expenses on research and development; however, the open
standards employed in Wi-SUN reduce licensing costs, which reduces the overall cost; hence the initial capital requirement is expected
to be moderate, thereby lowering the entry barriers in the market. Government regulations are stringent as radio frequencies are
utilized for communication and need to be licensed from the government. Hence, the threat of new entrants in the global Wi-SUN
technology market is expected to be moderate during the forecast period.
BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS
The number of suppliers in the global Wi-SUN technology market is very high. Currently, the Wi-SUN Alliance has over 180 members
with companies such as Cisco in board positions. Companies such as ARM, ABB, and Fujitsu are contributors to the technology as
well. Product differentiation is low as the manufacturers of Wi-SUN compatible products that operate as per specifications of Wi-SUN
Alliance. The switching cost of Wi-SUN compatible products is also low as Wi-SUN Alliance focuses on interoperability of different
components from different manufacturers. Buyers also get into long-term contracts with suppliers as Wi-SUN products are expected
to last for decades, which further lowers the bargaining power of the suppliers. Hence, bargaining power of suppliers is expected to
be low during the forecast period.
THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES
Wi-SUN is an open standard for low power wide area networks. In direct competition to this technology is the proprietary LoRaWAN
standard and the 3GPP based NB-IoT standard. Both these standards can be used for low power wide area networks, but LoRaWAN
being a proprietary standard causes licensing issues and vendor locking due to Semtech owning the intellectual property rights. NB
IoT is based on 3GPP, release 13, and is an open standard. However, it is slower compared to Wi-SUN in speed and latency. The
availability of close substitutes is, hence, low. Also, buyers who have specific use cases, such as smart grids and infrastructure, are
benefitted by adopting Wi-SUN. Hence, currently there are limited substitutes for Wi-SUN Technology solutions. Due to the similarity
in underlying functions of these standards, threat of internal substitutes can be considered high, but threat of external substitutes is
expected to be low in the global Wi-SUN technology market during the forecast period.
BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS
The buyer concentration of low power wide area network solutions is high. Buyers include power companies, IoT companies, smart
manufacturing, government entities. However, brand identity plays a role in opting for solution providers as brand track record and
experience play a role in large scale deployments, which are meant to power smart cities, smart utilities, and IoT deployments for
decades. Wi-SUN modules are not low cost, with WPAN routers from Cisco retailing for USD 1000 in general. This makes price sensitive
customers look for affordable alternatives. Hence, the bargaining power of buyers in the global Wi-SUN technology market is expected
to be high during the forecast period.
COMPETITIVE RIVALRY
The global Wi-SUN technology market is competitive with large players such as ABB, Ltd, Cisco Systems, and Renesas Electric
Corporation vying for market share. However, smaller players, such as Trillian, have also been able to offer competitive products and
services. According to MRFR analysis, market growth is expected to be high with favourable prospects during the forecast period.
Hence, the degree of rivalry among the existing players in the global Wi-SUN technology is expected to be high during the forecast
period.