Revenues from Internet of Things-related services surged 23.4 percent in 2017 in South Korea as companies continued to roll out connected services and devices, data showed Monday.

According to data from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Korea IoT Association and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, revenues from IoT reached 7.15 trillion won ($6.6 billion) last year, up from 5.8 trillion won in 2016.

IoT is a core technology of the so-called “fourth industrial revolution,” which uses wireless connectivity to gather and share data between devices. 

Of the 7.15 trillion won, 6.65 trillion won came from domestic sales, showing that the industry is still largely dependent on the domestic market rather than exports. Roughly half of the revenues came from device manufacturers. 

The proportion of revenues contributed by IoT-related services grew 7 percentage points to 21.3 percent as continued advancements in technology allowed for the expasion of IoT applications in areas such as retail, manufacturing, retail and logistics, and transportation.

Industry watchers expect the Internet of Things market in Korea to grow at a faster rate than the rest of the world.

According to a research report from Hyundai Research Institute, the global IoT market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 28.8 percent through to 2020, while the Korean IoT market is expected to grow at a pace of 38.5 percent per year over the same period. 

The Science Ministry‘s survey of IoT companies showed that the number of people working in IoT grew 1.7 percent on-year to 72,651, with the largest increase in the number of developers -- indicating that the IoT market may still be in the stages of developing new technology than fighting for market share through marketing.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)