Is AT&T Driving Growth Of The 'Internet Of Things'?

In a report issued Tuesday morning, analysts at Oppenheimer look into the Communications and Cloud space, and provide some updates on the state of affairs. Amongst the issues examined, there's AT&T Inc.'s

relation with the growth of Internet of things (IoT). According to the note, Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T's Mobile & Business Solutions Group, noted - in an interview with Fierce Wireless- that the wireless telecom services company "is leading the pack when it comes to connected cars, homes, and IoT. Mr. Vega indicated that the company expects to have at lease 50% flow share of the connected car market in 2015." In fact, AT&T added 800,000 connected cars just in the fourth quarter of 2014. Further, Mr. de la Vega noted that the company's home-automation and security product was also a leader, in the security space, in terms of net adds for 2014. Going forward, they believe that the addressable market for home automation is worth about $18 billion -- and they expect this figure to double within the next five years. AT&T "believes ARPU should be in the $55 area and expects EBITDA margins in the 40% range. For connected cars, AT&T has a dual-pronged revenue model with initial wholesale ARPU in the low single-digits, and retail ARPU in the $10 area. Each connected car will generate wholesale revenue right off the shelf, and retail revenue will be generated as customers add data/video."