Growth Opportunities in the Smart Water Metering Solutions Industry, MEA, Forecast to 2032

Middle East and African (MEA) countries are the most water-stressed. GCC and most MENA countries are significantly increasing their seawater desalination capacity to meet growing water demand and mitigate water stress. Sub-Saharan African countries face water stress due to rapid urbanization and inadequate water infrastructure. As part of SDG 2030 goals, African countries are significantly investing in expanding their water infrastructure, especially the provision of piped water connections to all urban households.

MEA water utilities primarily focus on reducing water loss and improving revenue-collection efficiency, as these efforts ensure long-term environmental and economic sustainability. Most utilities have installed water meters in their urban centers to ensure cost recovery, but most mechanical water meters have failed due to harsh conditions, vandalism, and the resource-intensive efforts to manually read the water meters and generate water bills (which are often disputed). African countries have installed STS Prepaid Water Meters, which have also faced multiple issues, such as faulty readings and susceptibility to repair.

GCC countries are at the forefront of smart metering adoption, and all countries have implemented a nationwide rollout; some have reached nearly 80% smart water meter penetration. MENA countries other than GCC, such as Israel, are also actively implementing smart water metering and are expected to reach 100% penetration by 2026. Countries such as Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan are implementing prepaid smart water metering, largely driven by the respective municipalities.

South Africa is implementing universal smart prepaid water meter coverage through RT 29, a transversal contract by the national treasury that aims to achieve smart water metering adoption by all municipalities by 2027.

Sub-Saharan African countries have metering ratios ranging from 20% to 100% for their urban piped water connections. Most of these are mechanical meters or conventional prepaid water meters. More than 100 utilities in the SSA are piloting, trialing, or implementing smart prepaid water meters that are accurate and capable of reducing water loss and significantly improving billing accuracy.

The smart water metering market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.5%, reaching $712.6 million by 2030. The key market segments presented in the report include smart water meters, network connectivity solutions, meter data management and customer information system (CIS)-billing solutions, customer engagement portal (CEP) & data analytics solutions, and project management services. Show more