Last week our global connectivity team attended MVNOs World Congress in Amsterdam, where IoT and eSIMs were top of the agenda and we shared our thoughts and experiences - and learnt from other early adopters of these technologies so we can improve our offering too. You can read our earlier blog about the event here.
As an independent, global mobile operator and non-terrestrial MNO, Telecom26 offers a number of IoT and eSIM services with multiple customers across various verticals including digital healthcare, connected vehicles, M2M and maritime.
In this blog MNO vs MVNO - better prices and better service from MVNOs, especially Telecom26 we discussed the current and future roles of MVNOs. It is estimated that by 2025 there will be around 2000 MVNOs operating in a market valued at >US$100 bn by 2025.
Traditionally, pricing has been the MVNO differentiator. However, these days MVNOs are considered as service companies with a strong focus on the adoption and use of new technologies compared to MNOs as network companies. Put simply, if MNOs can’t - or won’t - provide what the market needs then, most likely, there will be an MVNO snapping at their heels, hungry for business and with a nimble, can-do attitude.
In fact, IoT and eSIMs are two of the B2B services where MVNOs are already outpacing many traditional MNOs. However, thanks to our commitment to customer-first innovation, Telecom26 has already been providing these services for several years. In fact, the top two verticals for IoT are automotive and healthcare where we have produced some interesting case studies which can be found here.
eSIMs
The discussions about eSIMs at MVNO World Congress were timely. Shipments of physical SIM cards are falling as handset OEMs are moving away from plastic SIM card slots. ABI Research predicts that physical SIM shipments will fall to 3.93 billion in 2022 from 5.8 billion in 2020 while Juniper Research estimates that the number of eSIMs installed in connected devices will rise from 1.2bn in 2021, to 3.4bn in 2025, a 180% increase.
MVNOs, and forward-looking global service providers like Telecom26, are playing a leading role in driving the adoption of eSIMs - in particular, for data-based apps. You can read about Telecom26’s Enterprise extra service here.
eSIM and IoT
As was noted at the conference, the latest GSMA eSIM IoT specifications (SGP.32) are a key enabler for IoT services - especially given that, for most of the time, IoT devices are not reachable remotely via SMS or HTTP. The specification provides simplified architecture and integration; accelerated time to market and seamless switching between providers.
At Telecom26 we have been tracking the new specifications closely and are preparing to adapt our eSIM IoT portfolio including our proprietary openwrt LPAd solution to support the new standards.
Telecom26 is already leveraging 5G and eSIM technologies to enable more IoT services. Some players are still using 2G, but mainly IoT connectivity is currently split across LoraWan, NB-IOT, and LTE-M.
We also heard at the Congress that there is high potential for NB-IOT due to its low power capabilities – so, like others, we anticipate further growth of these specialised forms of 3GPP connectivity.
As for IoT revenue models, these are subscription based (connectivity all included or included for 3, 5 or 10 years) - and accompanied by protection measures like IMEI locking and high usage Alerting/Blocking.
We are also continuing to re-enforce and scale our BSS/Core to support IoT traffic patterns and engaging with IoT companies to expose our profiles in IoT markets.
Telecom26, eSIMs and IoT
Telecom26 is strongly committed to driving the transition to eSIM; it will lower operational costs, reduce friction, and enhance choice for M2M, consumer and business customers. We also help other service providers to enable their own eSIM offers.
We offer a complete range of solutions, enabling the remote provisioning of eSIM-capable devices from our GSMA-certified and compliant platforms.
This includes the full range – eUICC (the ‘e’ version of the Universal Integrated Chip Card that’s at the heart of the eSIM solution), as well as bootstrap and operational profiles, and the profile enabling and management infrastructure in the form of SMDP+, SMDP and SMSR capabilities – covering both consumer and IoT devices. The result is an easy, fast means of provisioning eSIMs, in any compatible device, backed by complete subscription management for our customers.
Our eSIM profiles can easily be downloaded, and we provide flexible packages and bundles that offer attractive pricing and cover both data only and full mobile services. And, it’s easy to evaluate our solution, because our profile can be downloaded and tested.
Get in touch
If you want to extend your connectivity options including moving to eSIMs and using IoT networks, or switch to a truly global provider to support your applications, then please get in touch.
