Why MNOs Must Adopt eSIM IoT Now

In truth, you’re a bit late to the game if you’re just now exploring the possibility of providing eSIM connectivity to your subscribers.

According to GSMA product director Chris Li, in his presentation, “eSIM Market: China and Beyond eSIM,” by 2023, 120 countries already had commercial eSIM service for smartphones.

At this point, many providers can already deliver a reliable remote provisioning platform and complementary services to mobile network operators (MNOs). Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are also inexorably shifting towards eSIM devices, for instance, the eSIM-only iPhone in the United States, the country that accounts for approximately a quarter of the nearly 600 million eSIM smartphone connections globally.

In fact, according to Li’s report, there are now MNOs capitalising on the digital shift by introducing digital-only mobile network brands, such as Fizz in Canada and Visible in the United States. The good news, moreover, is that the subscriber churn that the industry and MNOs, in particular, expected from eSIM adoption did not materialise.

It seems, then, that adopting eSIM means MNOs get to cater to the needs of digital natives, offer better mobile connectivity, and enable innovative services. Unfortunately, the availability of this data now means MNOs that are just about to transition to eSIM are following a path many others (maybe even their competition) have already trodden.

Be that as it may, it’s still the right choice to act and adopt eSIM now, especially now that GSMA has rolled out the Internet of Things (IoT) eSIM specifications. With the increasing prevalence of smart and connected vehicles, drones, meters, GPS trackers, wearables, security devices, streetlights, and healthcare devices, MNOs can capitalise on IoT eSIM to provide innovative connectivity plans and packages to enterprise clients.

Why the IoT eSIM Standard Is Important

eSIM promised seamless cellular connectivity in machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. The ability to remotely provision asset trackers, sensors, drones, and other devices as they cross state boundaries is invaluable.

As these devices move from place to place, their connection to their original carrier gets weaker, so they must switch networks, perhaps several times, across their routes. To enable this, enterprises used their devices with SIMs preloaded with multiple international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) numbers that the device can use or cycle through on demand.

This multi-IMSI solution to network switching works but is limited and inflexible. For one, the preloaded numbers must be negotiated beforehand, which means expensive operator plans. Additionally, if a device has to pass through a place where none of the preloaded IMSIs work, it must lose its connection.

With eSIM, enterprises can remotely provision their devices on the fly. There’s no need to be tied down to high-cost services. Devices don’t have to lose coverage, moreover, as local operator profiles can be pushed to devices as needed.

However, a few issues made the M2M eSIM standard less than ideal.

1. Complex Infrastructure Integration In the M2M eSIM standard, there needed to be careful orchestration to ensure relevant integrations between the subscription manager data preparation (SM-DP) and subscription manager secure routing (SM-SR) platforms. SM-DP generates and delivers operator profiles, while SM-SR handles secure data routing, transmitting encrypted operator credentials to eSIMs and enabling remote management.

This means much time spent in technical integrations and testing, longer time to live, and long lead times when executing changes, swaps, or new integrations. Even adding newer devices to the ecosystem can take a while.

1. Limitation for Constrained Devices The M2M architecture has specific requirements that render M2M eSIM unusable or impractical for power- and connectivity-constrained devices. For instance, M2M eSIM requires support for communication protocols, such as short message service (SMS), bearer-independent protocol (BIP), transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), and card application toolkit transport protocol (CAT_TP). These protocols are not universally supported among M2M devices.

Due to these limitations, the M2M eSIM architecture had not been widely adopted by the enterprises for which it was designed.

Opportunities With the New IoT eSIM Standard

The introduction of the IoT eSIM standard addresses many of the limitations of traditional eSIM frameworks. For MNOs, it means more opportunities to capture the enterprise market and expand market reach.

1. Streamlined Architecture The IoT eSIM specification eliminates SM-SR from the equation, using SM-DP+, which unifies the functions of SM-DP and SM-SR in the older M2M eSIM architecture. It’s the same server used in consumer eSIM. This shift is made possible by the IoT Profile Assistant (IPA), which lives in the eSIM or the device, and it enables the eUICC on IoT eSIM to be provisioned by an SM-DP+ server.

This development removes the complex integration required between two servers (SM-DP and SM-SR), and it’s proven to offer better flexibility in managing and delivering operator profiles to fleets of devices.

1. Versatility and Usability
   eSIM IoT enables pull functionality, allowing devices to download profiles and updates when they go back online while retaining the push functionality that enables an enterprise’s centralised control over their devices. The eSIM IoT Remote Manager (eIM) makes this ‘device-led’ profile downloading possible for IoT devices.

2. Expanded Device Support
   The optimised protocols in the new standard enable support for a broader range of devices, including power-constrained IoT devices.

3. Leveraging Existing Infrastructure
   The great thing about the IoT eSIM standard is that MNOs can repurpose their consumer RSP infrastructure, such as SM-DP+ servers, to support IoT applications. This lowers the expected capital expenditure of adopting IoT eSIM to serve enterprise clients.

MNOs Need to Act Now

The time to adopt eSIM IoT is now.

The market is rapidly changing, and IoT eSIM is unlocking new opportunities for enterprises and, thus, the MNOs that serve these organisations’ connectivity needs.