In March, the idea will be celebrating its 9th birthday (though the GSMA started discussing the idea of a way to make digital remote changing of your network possible as far back as 2010). Right now, though there are some gaps (no iPhones from mainland China or iPhone devices from Hong Kong and Macao, except for a few exceptions, have eSIM capability, and a fair few Galaxys) you can go eSIM from pretty much everything from Apple, Samsung, Google, Sony, Oppo, and many more phones and tablets (134 as recently as October 2023).
It being now so easy for over-the-air provisioning for switching carriers or upgrading networks is great for both the public, especially frequent fliers or people switching between countries, and SNS customers wanting to offer mobile services across geographies as part of an MVNO play.
By the end of this year, this could be universally accepted by anyone who needs to quickly change operators when traveling or looking for better pricing. However, although acceptance of eSIM is growing, there’s still a learning curve for consumers, especially in terms of how to manage multiple profiles and carriers.
But for corporates, it’s just so much easier to manage large fleets of connected devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, and IoT sensors) through centralised management systems without needing physical SIM cards for each device, so people may actually learn how to handle eSIMs in work before they take the plunge and do it at the airport.
However, our customers are increasingly just as interested in offering not just a consumer eSIM solution, but a M2M/IoT offering too, and so being able to deploy solutions for Internet of Things and wearable applications in everything from remote device activation, configuration to connecting sensors and industrial technology in the field.
We offer several services to help you get started and launch eSIM offers, regardless of the target user and device base. These include GSMA-compliant eSIM enablement – and analysts expect annual eSIM IoT sales will more than double by 2025.
So, what can we expect to happen in this exciting market over the course of the next 12 months?
Use SNS’s help to make eSIM management as easy as A-B-C
- Will physical cards disappear this year? Most flagship smartphones will no longer rely on physical SIM cards; optimists point out how Apple, Google, and Samsung are already leading the way, and other manufacturers will follow suit, offering eSIM-only devices for more streamlined designs and improved durability. It is true that Apple removed the SIM card tray from all iPhone 14 models in the US in 2022, but it didn’t do it outside America and the reality is until it does so this won’t happen any time soon, unfortunately. But eSIM’s will become the default for most other things, we expect, from smartwatches to fitness trackers and wearable healthcare devices, and for sure IoT devices needing connectivity (i.e., 100% of them).
- A very competitive global roaming market By definition, eSIM is a vector for easier switching between carriers. Consumers will be able to choose multiple carriers and switch between them without the hassle of getting a new SIM card for each region they visit, and so we expect a surge in flexible pricing and subscription plans, from pay-as-you-go models, temporary plans, or hybrid packages that combine Wi-Fi and mobile data. If you are in the worlds of MVNO or IMSI sponsorship, that means now is the time to come up with imaginative and cost-effective packages to make you stand out from the crowd.
- Even more reason to become a Mobile Virtual Network Operator? eSIM technology reduces the barriers to entry for new MVNOs, as in companies that don’t own their own mobile networks but instead lease them from major carriers, especially brands wanting to drive loyalty or extra income. If this is the year of eSIM, that could foster a wave of new, niche carriers offering competitive or specialised services.
- And finally, 5G eSIM technology could be integral to the broader rollout of 5G and future technologies (though it’s far off, we’re already starting to scope out 6G after all). As eSIM allows for more efficient management of network access across multiple frequencies and bands, operators may be looking to it help make it easier for users to connect to the best network available in any given area, and ensuring smooth transitions between 5G, 4G, and Wi-Fi networks.
Summing up, these next few months will see this key market growing in importance—and well before it’s even ten years old, let alone nine. That means it’s imperative to take the eSIM initiative into your own hands.
It could well be that all this makes perfect sense to you and your team in terms of momentum, demand and possible opportunity, but are you happy with how your eSIM proposition is tracking?
Are you convinced you can seamlessly (and more importantly, cost-effectively and therefore ultimately profitably) integrate eSIM into your portfolio? Are you get the attention of providers… would you get a call back with what you have even if you could?
Not trying to be negative here: the eSIM water’s great, we want you in here. But if you are, as an enterprise, MVNO, or other kind of service provider fascinated to launch a punchy eSIM offer, then look no further and partner with SNS.
One last thing to whet your appetite here is that lots of use cases are emerging beyond telephony; in the Jaguar Land Rover use case we highlighted above, it’s worth noting that the automotive maker has its own eSIM packages to ensure connectivity from the vehicle to the driver (as it's just so convincingly shown at CES 2025).
Maybe you have a similar neat idea that could land well with a major manufacturer of some kind; if so, check out our eSIM proposition here and connect with us today and make your eSIM management work as friction-free as changing carriers when you’re in the taxi out of the airport.
