Though Li-Fi is an emerging technology, which is yet to be commercialized globally, but is anticipated to record exponential growth over the coming years. At present, Li-Fi market is still in the nascent stage and is confined to limited applications. Many companies, R&D institutes and education institutes have invested in this space to make the technology a global success.
According to 6Wresearch, Global Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 115 percent during 2016-22. Need for faster data transfer, growing LED lighting market, rising number of connected devices, increasing internet penetration coupled with mounting issue of RF Bandwidth spectrum crunch are spurring the market for Li-Fi systems globally. Li-Fi technology transfers data 100 times faster than traditional Wi-Fi network. During 2011-15, Li-Fi market was commercialized only for the use in unidirectional data transfer, however over the next six years, bidirectional data transfer is likely to commercialize.
According to Prijo Samuel, Senior Research Analyst, Research and Consulting, 6Wresearch, “in Li-Fi system, LED lights controls major cost of the overall system followed by photo detectors. This technology is also gaining acceptance as LEDs consumes less energy and have long working life.”
“In global Li-Fi application market, retail application has registered highest deployment, however during the forecast period street light application is expected to witness major growth in demand,” Samuel further added.
According to Shefali Goel, Research Analyst, Research and Consulting, 6Wresearch,
“Amongst all regions, European Li-Fi market contributes a major share in the market revenues. In Europe, major deployment can be witnessed in the areas of retail, museums, street light and transportation. Recently, Europe based Oledcomm bagged a contract to deploy Li-Fi system at 66 stations of Paris metro. Similar developments are expected in other regions such as North America, South America, Middle-East and Asia-Pacific in the coming future. Asia-Pacific region is exhibited to grow exponentially over the next six years owing to increasing spending on research and development projects pertaining to Li-Fi systems and expected user acceptance. ”
“Although Li-Fi technology achieves significant data transfer rate but limited coverage is acting as a major constraint for its mass adoption at global level. With increasing research & development activities to transfer data through reflected lights, the underlying challenge can be overcome in the coming years,” Shefali concluded.
The major companies in the Global Li-Fi market include- Acuity Brand Lighting, Inc, General Electric Company, Koninklijke Philips N.V, Lightbee Corp, LVX System Corp, PureLi-Fi Ltd and Oledcomm.