eSIM is being touted as a technology that will benefit IoT but isn’t widely adopted yet. Enter the SGP.32 standard, writes Luc Vidal-Madjar – Head of SIM for Things, BICS
Enterprise IoT continues to grow, with cellular connections expected to reach 6 billion by 2030 according to GSMA Intelligence. At the same time, the eSIM, a technology that has long promised to make a big impact in this space, has stuttered. Awareness and use of eSIM are growing, but the consumer market drives this. By 2030, current projections from GSMA Intelligence say 76% of smartphones will use eSIM, compared to only 42% for IoT. However, that second number is still way above what it is today. In fact, IoT Analytics forecasts that cellular IoT modules with eSIM technology will experience accelerated growth starting in H2 2025.
So, why has this happened, and what us going to drive IoT eSIM adoption over the next few years?
Why does this matter?
First, it’s worth explaining why any of this matters. Aside from being more secure than a traditional SIM, the eSIM offers several benefits when working on a global scale. It provides flexible connectivity across borders. For example, an EV charger company deploying its products across multiple countries, with large-scale deployments reaching tens or even hundreds of thousands in some regions, requires a reliable, permanent roaming solution. eSIM enables seamless connectivity by allowing a single solution to manage the entire global fleet while ensuring consistent, high-quality network access across different markets. This approach simplifies operations, reduces logistical complexities, and provides uninterrupted service.
The ability to connect or ‘provision’ an eSIM remotely also makes industrial IoT devices more scalable. For example, let’s say a global manufacturer wants to install IoT sensors across its factories to monitor and improve performance and safety. It procures these sensors from a single supplier and ships them to different factories around the world. With an eSIM, connecting each device is simple. Instead of installing physical SIMs at each factory, you can manage everything remotely, removing the need for OEMs to track device destinations and match SIMs accordingly. You could connect these devices via a normal SIM card, but it would be much more manual and costly.
If it’s so great, why isn’t it everywhere?
Despite its benefits, eSIM has failed to penetrate the industrial IoT market. Ironically, it’s just too complicated for many enterprises to deploy. The solution, which is meant to simplify connectivity, requires coordination between SIM vendors and mobile operators. The real issue is that despite the need for flexibility from enterprises to remotely manage the eSIM, the first eSIM standard for M2M (SGP.01/.02) developed about 10 years ago, has been based on complicated integration between eSIM platforms, making the upfront costs of actually reprogramming SIMs not economically viable. As a result, adoption by enterprise has stayed low.
This is exactly the problem consumer eSIM doesn’t have. The GSMA released the initial version of the SGP.22 standard in 2017. It’s the technical specification for eSIM provisioning in consumer devices like smartphones, tablets, and watches. It defines how eSIMs for such devices are downloaded, activated, and managed remotely, without integration between eSIM platforms of mobile carriers. In the consumer markets, eSIM is a natively open ecosystem. So, it’s no wonder why consumer eSIM usage is pulling ahead. But this is about to change…
The SGP.32 standard
The highly anticipated sequel to the consumer standard is arriving in force this year. The specifications for SGP.32 were published in 2024 but will soon be fully finalised and commercially available. So, why now? The consumer standard came first because it solves a simpler problem.
Industrial IoT rollouts are complex. Not only do you have a much greater variety of devices, but you can’t employ user-driven eSIM activation via a QR code or an app. Instead, devices need to be provisioned and managed on a much bigger scale, with a more complex ecosystem of stakeholders. So, this long-awaited standard has taken time and has been under development for over three years.
SGP.32 aims to streamline this for enterprises. It outlines specific roles and responsibilities for an IoT eSIM deployment. Those are the operator, which provides connectivity, resellers, and a brand new role, the eSIM orchestrator. This new role is a crucial one. It fills the gap left by not having a consumer connect the eSIM on each device and will greatly simplify IoT eSIM deployments for businesses and manufacturers. eSIM Hubs can then naturally be developed on top of eSIM orchestration platforms, and can provide a single pane of glass to manage device connectivity: technically, commercially and operationally. Even on a global scale, these eSIM Hubs will work as an intermediary between enterprises and operators, centralising everything into one platform, one contract, and one invoice.
The age of the eSIM
It’s been a long time coming, but with this standard in place, eSIMs will finally deliver on their promise of simplicity for enterprise IoT. This will open up the IoT on an international scale – borders will no longer be barriers to deployment. Instead of being seen as a headache, the ecosystem around IoT connectivity will be able to deliver new value to business
However, experienced players must continue educating the market and change perceptions. eSIM technology is ready to support businesses in 2025 – but are businesses ready to embrace the eSIM?
Luc Vidal-Madjar is Head of M2M/IoT Business at BICS. His role encompasses managing BICS’ Global IoT solutions portfolio, taking to global markets the BICS SIM for Things solution built on BICS’ market leadership in Mobile Roaming and establishing partnerships and projects worldwide in this fast-growing area of telecoms.
Author: Luc Vidal-Madjar – Head of SIM for Things, BICS (a Proximus Global company)
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