IoT and enterprise markets: five trends to watch in 2026

To help navigate the year ahead, we are releasing a series of reports that highlight the key trends to watch in 2025 and the implications for ecosystem players. The analysis covers five key areas: 5G and network transformation; spectrum; IoT and the wider enterprise market; the digital consumer; and fixed and pay-TV markets. This Insight Spotlight addresses IoT and the wider enterprise market.

As the telecoms industry and wider digital ecosystem evolve at an unprecedented rate, regularly assessing major developments and their implications is more important than ever. GSMA Intelligence's new Industry Checkpoint series helps navigate how the market is changing, identify the trends that matter and understand the implications.

Direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity has emerged as a notable development in the mobile ecosystem, promising to extend basic mobile services beyond the reach of terrestrial networks. It has the potential to enhance coverage in remote and underserved areas and to provide an additional layer of resilience for emergency communications. While the technology has clear benefits, is advancing rapidly and is attracting significant attention, its practical role remains constrained by fundamental limitations in capacity and spectral efficiency. This report examines the impact of different constellation and spectrum scenarios on D2D’s capabilities.