Connected Street Lighting Market By Component (Hardware, Software, Services); By Connectivity Technology (Wired, Wireless); By Application (Roadways, Public Parks, Parking Lots, Residential Streets, Commercial Districts); By End User (Municipalities, Utilities, Smart City Operators, Commercial Real Estate Developers); By Geography, Segment Revenue Estimation, Forecast, 2024–2030

Introduction And Strategic Context

The Global Connected Street Lighting Market will expand at a strong CAGR of 18.4% , valued at approximately USD 4.2 billion in 2024 , and projected to reach USD 11.8 billion by 2030 , according to Strategic Market Research.

 

Connected street lighting — often referred to as “smart lighting” — integrates LED luminaires with wireless connectivity, sensors, and data platforms to enable real-time monitoring, energy efficiency, and dynamic control of urban infrastructure. Between 2024 and 2030, this market is gaining prominence not just as a sustainability tool, but as a cornerstone for urban digitization strategies.

 

Several powerful forces are reshaping the way cities think about street lighting. First, there’s the undeniable push for energy efficiency. As municipalities look to cut operational costs and carbon footprints, replacing conventional lighting with connected alternatives offers up to 50–75% in energy savings . Pair that with rising electricity costs and tighter emissions mandates in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia, and the case becomes even stronger.

 

Second, smart cities aren’t just concepts anymore — they’re funded realities. Governments in countries like India, China, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. are investing heavily in infrastructure digitization. Connected lighting acts as a gateway system — it’s visible, scalable, and offers a quick return on investment. It also enables additional services like public Wi-Fi, surveillance, and traffic analytics via embedded sensors.

 

Third, connected lighting platforms are becoming easier to deploy. Cloud-managed control systems, open IoT protocols, and edge AI chips are reducing the technical complexity of lighting automation. Cities no longer need proprietary, locked-in platforms — a big shift from just five years ago.

 

What’s also interesting is the shift in who’s involved. It's not just utilities and public works departments anymore. Stakeholders now include:

• OEMs and lighting giants developing hardware-software bundles

• Network operators offering LPWAN, LoRaWAN , or 5G connectivity layers

• City governments and public-private partnerships funding deployment

• AI and data analytics firms optimizing lighting behavior based on traffic, weather, or occupancy

• Green finance groups and ESG investors backing zero-carbon infrastructure transitions

To be honest, street lighting hasn’t traditionally been seen as a high-tech field. But that’s changing — and fast. With new EU taxonomy frameworks, smart grid convergence, and rising urban resilience goals, lighting is becoming a platform for smarter, safer, and more adaptive cities.

 

Market Segmentation And Forecast Scope

The connected street lighting market spans multiple strategic layers — from the type of hardware deployed to the nature of connectivity used, and from the kind of control software implemented to the regional deployment models. Here's how the segmentation typically unfolds:

By Component

• Hardware Includes LED luminaires, controllers, sensors (motion, ambient light, temperature), gateways, and poles with embedded electronics.

• Software Comprises lighting management systems, cloud-based dashboards, AI optimization engines, and APIs for integration with other urban systems.

• Services Covers installation, remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, and analytics consulting — often offered under multi-year SLAs.

Hardware continues to lead in revenue share, accounting for nearly 58% of the global market in 2024. But services are growing faster, especially as cities opt for managed lighting-as-a-service (LaaS) contracts rather than CAPEX-heavy ownership models.

 

By Connectivity Technology

• Wired Generally uses Power Line Communication (PLC) or fiber optics; offers high reliability but limited flexibility for scaling.

• Wireless Includes Zigbee, LoRaWAN , Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT), LTE-M, and increasingly, private 5G mesh networks.

Wireless is now the dominant mode, driven by faster installation and improved reliability. Inferred insight: LoRaWAN and NB-IoT are gaining traction in smart city deployments due to low energy use and long-range coverage — especially in European and Southeast Asian cities.

 

By Application

• Highways and Roadways

• Public Parks and Outdoor Spaces

• Parking Lots

• Residential Streets

• Commercial Districts and Campuses

Urban roadways and commercial areas account for the bulk of current deployments, but parks and recreational zones are emerging as a sweet spot for motion-sensor and event-triggered lighting systems that lower energy use when zones are unoccupied.

 

By End User

• Municipalities and City Councils

• Utilities

• Commercial Real Estate Developers

• Transportation Authorities

• Smart City Operators

City governments are still the primary buyers , often deploying connected lighting as part of broader smart city masterplans. However, transportation departments in North America and the EU are rolling out intelligent lighting along highways and tunnels for adaptive illumination tied to traffic and weather data.

 

By Region

• North America

• Europe

• Asia Pacific

• Latin America

• Middle East & Africa (MEA)

North America and Europe lead in adoption, but Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region , backed by massive infrastructure spending in India, China, and ASEAN nations. Emerging megacities are leapfrogging legacy lighting systems, going straight to intelligent lighting grids.

 

Scope Note: This segmentation isn’t just functional — it’s financial. Vendors are increasingly tailoring solutions by vertical, offering modular platforms for cities with different goals: cost savings, safety, ESG compliance, or public engagement. As a result, the market is no longer about bulbs and poles — it’s about platforms and data.

 

Market Trends And Innovation Landscape

The connected street lighting market is evolving rapidly — and not just in terms of energy efficiency. What started as a utility-led LED retrofit movement is now a full-blown smart infrastructure category. A few critical trends are shaping how cities and vendors innovate in this space.

Lighting-as-a-Platform ( LaaP ) is gaining ground. Cities are beginning to treat light poles as strategic urban assets — not just for illumination, but for data collection, surveillance, public Wi-Fi, EV charging, and even digital signage . This has led to partnerships between lighting OEMs and telecom or cloud providers to create modular, IoT-ready pole platforms.

Example: Some European cities are testing poles with embedded 5G antennas, air quality monitors, and digital wayfinding screens — all mounted on what was once a standard streetlight.

 

Edge AI is coming to the pole. Instead of relying solely on centralized servers, modern connected lights now feature embedded AI chips or microcontrollers that can analyze motion patterns, detect anomalies (like accidents or vandalism), and adjust brightness locally without latency.

This is especially relevant for critical urban areas — think high-crime neighborhoods , transit hubs, or school zones — where faster reaction times improve both safety and public confidence.

 

Interoperability is finally being taken seriously. One of the biggest complaints from early smart lighting adopters was vendor lock-in. That’s changing. New deployments increasingly use open-source or standards-compliant protocols like TALQ, uCIFI , and Zhaga D4i. These allow cities to swap out components or integrate lighting with broader city management platforms — without rewriting backend systems.

In fact, some cities are now requiring open-protocol compliance in their public tenders.

 

Energy optimization is going beyond scheduling. Early systems focused on simple dimming schedules. Now, we’re seeing predictive analytics based on weather data, traffic models, and real-time occupancy. AI engines can forecast when to dim or brighten lights based on historical pedestrian flows — or even trigger patterns based on events like concerts or festivals.

Insight: In California, some cities are testing streetlights that dim during heavy smog to reduce visual glare and refocus lighting where visibility is needed most.

 

Cybersecurity is becoming a dealbreaker. With connected poles now part of urban IT networks, vulnerabilities in lighting systems can be exploited to access broader city infrastructure. That’s driving adoption of secure firmware updates, multi-factor access control, and zero-trust networking models. Cities are beginning to demand cybersecurity certifications as part of lighting RFPs — a big shift from the past, when IT risks were largely ignored.

 

Financing models are maturing. Lighting-as-a-Service (LaaS) is becoming mainstream in Europe and parts of North America. Instead of paying upfront for hardware, cities pay monthly for outcomes — uptime, energy savings, or crime reduction metrics — via performance-based contracts.

Inferred outlook: This will open doors for small and mid-sized municipalities that can’t afford major infrastructure capex but want modern lighting.

 

Competitive Intelligence And Benchmarking

The connected street lighting space is drawing in players from across the technology spectrum — not just legacy lighting companies, but also telecom operators, AI startups, and software integrators. What matters now isn’t just who builds the light — it’s who controls the platform. Let’s look at how the key players are positioning themselves.

Signify (formerly Philips Lighting)
Still one of the most dominant names in the space, Signify leads with its Interact City platform — a smart lighting solution now deployed in over 60 countries. Their strength lies in full-stack integration: LED luminaires, control nodes, cloud management, and data analytics all come bundled. They also push sustainability hard, offering circular lighting models and carbon-neutral operations.

They’re especially active in Europe, with large deployments in the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. Signify's differentiator? A proven global footprint and deep experience with municipal clients.

 

Schréder
A global lighting specialist, Schréder offers EXEDRA , an open and vendor-agnostic lighting platform. Their systems emphasize interoperability , allowing integration with sensors for traffic, air quality, and noise monitoring. The company works closely with smart city consortiums in Europe and Latin America, often winning contracts where open standards are required.

Schréder is a favorite among mid-sized cities that want flexibility without sacrificing scale.

 

Citelum (EDF Group)
A strong European presence, Citelum operates as a services-first vendor. Rather than selling just products, they offer turnkey lighting-as-a-service deals — managing design, deployment, maintenance, and data analytics under multi-decade agreements. Their MUSE® platform enables adaptive lighting, energy monitoring, and asset tracking across cities.

They’ve rolled out smart lighting in places like Mexico City and Copenhagen. Their model appeals to cities with limited internal IT capacity, outsourcing everything under a single contract.

 

Cisco Systems
While not a lighting OEM, Cisco plays a critical role by offering the network backbone for many smart lighting deployments. Their Kinetic for Cities platform allows lighting to plug into a wider city management interface — enabling lighting to interact with traffic systems, emergency alerts, and surveillance feeds.

Cisco’s edge is trust — cities already rely on them for IT infrastructure, making them a natural partner for lighting network integration.

 

Ubicquia
A rising U.S.-based startup, Ubicquia builds plug-and-play smart lighting controllers that retrofit onto existing streetlights. Their value proposition? No need to rip and replace. They offer edge processing , air quality sensing , and 5G node integration — all in a compact unit that snaps onto any standard photocell socket.

They’ve gained traction in North America and Latin America by targeting cities that want rapid, affordable upgrades. Ubicquia is the go-to choice for fast, low-disruption deployments.

 

Itron
Known for its work in utility metering, Itron has expanded into connected lighting through its Streetlight Vision and SLV CMS platforms. Their strength lies in utility-grade scalability , with deep roots in smart grid ecosystems. Itron platforms often sit on top of RF mesh networks — ideal for cities already running smart water or electric metering.

They’re strongest in utility-led deployments, where lighting is just one layer of a larger smart grid.

 

Competitive Themes to Watch

• Full-stack vs. Modular : Players like Signify and Citelum offer end-to-end solutions, while others like Cisco and Ubicquia focus on key layers.

• Global vs. Local : European vendors dominate EU markets due to regulatory familiarity. U.S.-based players are more aggressive in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

• Interoperability wins : Cities increasingly demand open APIs, backward compatibility, and multi-vendor setups.

• Sustainability as a lever : Green financing and ESG targets are influencing vendor selection, with vendors offering carbon tracking and lifecycle metrics gaining ground.

 

Regional Landscape And Adoption Outlook

The connected street lighting market isn’t moving at the same pace everywhere. Adoption patterns vary sharply by region, driven by different funding models, urban density, regulation, and energy priorities. Let’s walk through how each region is shaping up.

 

North America
This region remains a key innovator — particularly the United States , where smart lighting often intersects with broader smart city and public safety programs. Major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York have adopted connected lighting as part of urban modernization strategies. Federal incentives and sustainability grants have helped push deployments, especially under energy efficiency mandates and digital infrastructure bills.

At the same time, private utilities and municipal utility districts in states like Texas and Florida are rolling out smart lighting tied to smart grid upgrades.

What stands out here is a dual market: large urban centers with high-end AI platforms, and smaller cities opting for retrofitted, lower-cost nodes with cloud control.

 

Europe
Europe is perhaps the most regulation-driven market, with stringent energy directives and carbon neutrality targets pushing cities to adopt connected lighting systems aggressively. Countries like Germany, the Netherlands, France, and the Nordics lead in full-network smart lighting deployments.

The EU Green Deal and urban resilience funding under Horizon Europe have unlocked public finance for smart infrastructure — especially in mid-sized cities that previously lacked the capital.

What gives Europe a unique edge? Strong demand for open architecture and interoperability . Many projects here are consortium-based, involving universities, OEMs, and civic agencies — making vendor lock-in a non-starter.

Eastern Europe is catching up, but still trails in both funding and digital readiness.

 

Asia Pacific
This is the fastest-growing region by a wide margin — and for good reason. Urban populations are exploding. Government programs in China, India, South Korea, Singapore, and Indonesia are actively pushing smart lighting as part of smart city roadmaps.

China leads in volume — with cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou already deploying AI-driven traffic-responsive lighting. India is rapidly scaling through the National Smart Cities Mission , with over 100 cities mandated to install smart poles, cameras, and lighting infrastructure.

Unlike Europe, Asia is more open to proprietary solutions , especially when they’re bundled with financing or PPP models. Local champions (especially in China and India) are offering vertically integrated packages, putting pressure on global vendors to localize faster.

That said, supply chain localization, language compatibility , and government approvals are still key barriers to entry for non-native providers.

 

Latin America
This region is in a transitional phase. Some cities like São Paulo, Bogotá, and Mexico City have launched smart lighting projects through international partnerships and climate-focused investment funds.

Progress is uneven. Wealthier urban centers are embracing connected lighting for public safety and energy savings. But smaller cities often lack the capital or political continuity to deploy and maintain digital infrastructure.

A key growth driver here is LaaS (Lighting-as-a-Service) , where vendors or ESCOs install and operate lighting in exchange for long-term revenue shares. This model is gaining ground in Brazil and Colombia.

 

Middle East and Africa (MEA)
The Middle East is moving fast, especially in Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar . Smart lighting is being bundled into massive infrastructure projects such as NEOM and Expo City Dubai. These projects are acting as testbeds for AI-driven, multi-sensor streetlight networks integrated with surveillance, weather sensing, and communications.

Africa, however, presents a different reality. Power reliability is still a core challenge. But interest in solar-powered, off-grid smart lighting is growing — especially in Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa. NGOs and donor agencies are helping roll out basic motion-sensing street lighting in low-income neighborhoods , often paired with solar microgrids.

 

Regional Summary

North America: Tech-forward, with clear bifurcation between major cities and smaller towns.

Europe: Standardized, interoperable, and policy-led.

Asia Pacific: Fastest growth, led by government-backed megaprojects.

Latin America: Incremental growth, with financing as the enabler.

Middle East & Africa: High-end innovation in the Gulf, basic but essential upgrades in parts of Africa.

Here’s the reality: Streetlights may look the same around the world — but their role, funding, and digital footprint vary widely. Success depends on understanding not just the lighting, but the local urban DNA.

 

End-User Dynamics And Use Case

Connected street lighting isn’t just a hardware upgrade — it’s a shift in how cities and infrastructure operators manage visibility, safety, and energy costs. Different end users are approaching the market with very different needs, timelines, and operational models.

 

Municipal Governments and City Councils
These remain the biggest buyers, typically using public funds, green bonds, or grants to implement city-wide lighting modernization. Their priorities are clear: energy savings, improved citizen safety, and compliance with climate mandates .

Large cities tend to run RFP-based procurements and look for full lifecycle solutions — from pole hardware to control platforms and analytics dashboards. Smaller municipalities often partner with ESCOs (Energy Service Companies) to avoid upfront capital spending.

Many local governments now frame connected lighting as a foundation for future smart city upgrades, including environmental monitoring and public Wi-Fi deployment.

 

Utilities and Energy Providers
In parts of the U.S., Canada, and Europe, utilities own the street lighting infrastructure and are responsible for upgrades and maintenance. They’re now deploying smart nodes on behalf of municipalities or bundling lighting into broader smart grid initiatives.

What sets them apart is their focus on network reliability, load management , and grid interoperability . Their interest in connected lighting is often linked to demand-side management and electrification strategies.

 

Smart City Developers and Infrastructure PPPs
In fast-growing urban corridors — particularly in Asia and the Middle East — smart lighting is part of public-private partnership (PPP) models where the infrastructure is financed, installed, and maintained by private players under long-term concession models.

These projects often bundle lighting with traffic control, EV charging, and sensor data collection — aiming for full-stack smart infrastructure.

 

Transportation and Transit Authorities
These end users prioritize adaptive lighting for highways, tunnels, and public transport corridors. Lighting control tied to real-time vehicle flow or weather data can reduce accidents and improve visibility.

Some also integrate smart lighting with surveillance feeds and incident response systems , especially around airport perimeters, bus terminals, or rail networks.

 

Commercial Real Estate Operators and Industrial Parks
Private developers and estate managers are increasingly adopting connected lighting to enhance site security, reduce operational overhead, and attract tenants. Business districts, campuses, and shopping complexes are retrofitting poles with sensors and centralized control platforms.

In these cases, aesthetics and branding sometimes play a role — lighting can be programmed to change color or intensity for events, holidays, or branding alignment.

 

Use Case Highlight

A midsized city in northern Spain had over 14,000 legacy sodium-vapor streetlights draining both its budget and its climate targets. The city council decided to transition to a connected lighting solution — not just to cut energy use, but to enhance traffic and pedestrian safety.

They partnered with a lighting OEM and deployed LoRaWAN -connected LED fixtures managed via a cloud-based control platform. Motion sensors were added in low-traffic zones, enabling dynamic dimming based on activity.

Within 12 months:

• Energy use dropped by 65%

• Reported street crime fell by 18%

• Lighting complaints from citizens declined significantly

Even better, the city used the same pole infrastructure to pilot environmental sensors for air quality and humidity — helping inform its broader climate resilience strategy.

This wasn’t just a lighting project. It became a digital infrastructure success story.

The real insight here? End users are no longer just looking to "light the street." They’re trying to build smarter, safer, and more adaptive urban environments — and lighting is becoming the most visible (and versatile) enabler.

 

Recent Developments + Opportunities & Restraints

Recent Developments (Last 2 Years)

• Signify partnered with Upciti (2024) to integrate AI-powered computer vision sensors into its Interact platform, enabling real-time analytics for traffic, crowd density, and noise in addition to lighting control.

• Ubicquia launched a smart lighting node with integrated 5G small cell support (2023) , allowing municipalities to piggyback telecom services onto existing streetlight infrastructure.

• Schréder unveiled EXEDRA open platform integration for public EV charging stations (2023) , turning streetlights into dual-use urban assets.

• Cisco and the City of Chicago (2024) expanded their urban analytics pilot, combining connected lighting with surveillance and AI-based emergency response triggers.

• Itron enhanced SLV CMS (2024) with predictive maintenance capabilities, helping utilities cut repair costs through AI-based fault prediction.

 

Opportunities

• Urban Resilience and ESG Funding
  Cities chasing net-zero targets are prioritizing infrastructure that reduces emissions and improves public services. Connected lighting is a natural fit, and green bond financing is increasingly accessible.

• Edge Intelligence and Multi-Service Poles
  Lighting poles are evolving into urban nodes — delivering traffic data, public safety alerts, and even wireless broadband. Vendors that offer modular, multi-sensor options are gaining an edge.

• Smart Lighting for Tier-2 and Tier-3 Cities
  Mid-sized urban centers , particularly in Asia and Latin America, are scaling smart lighting due to better vendor financing, falling costs, and template-based deployment models.

 

Restraints

• Fragmented Procurement and Long Sales Cycles
  Municipal procurement is often slow, political, and risk-averse. Multi-stakeholder approvals and budget cycles delay rollouts — especially in less digitized cities.

• Cybersecurity and Privacy Concerns
  As lighting becomes more connected, it becomes a cyber risk surface . Cities without strong IT governance worry about hacking, surveillance misuse, or data leaks — especially when lighting nodes carry cameras or microphones.

 

7.1. Report Coverage Table

Report Attribute	Details
Forecast Period	2024 – 2030
Market Size Value in 2024	USD 4.2 Billion
Revenue Forecast in 2030	USD 11.8 Billion
Overall Growth Rate	CAGR of 18.4% (2024 – 2030)
Base Year for Estimation	2024
Historical Data	2019 – 2023
Unit	USD Million, CAGR (2024 – 2030)
Segmentation	By Component, Connectivity, Application, End User, Geography
By Component	Hardware, Software, Services
By Connectivity	Wired, Wireless
By Application	Roadways, Public Parks, Parking Lots, Residential Streets, Commercial Areas
By End User	Municipalities, Utilities, Commercial Real Estate, Smart City Operators
By Region	North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa
Country Scope	U.S., UK, Germany, China, India, Japan, Brazil, etc.
Market Drivers	- Push for urban energy efficiency - Smart city funding and digital transformation - Advances in AI and sensor technology
Customization Option	Available upon request