Give telcos the tools
Telco service providers such as Orange Business Services should hit their contacts in the gas, oil and logistics sectors soonest, according an eIMs Emerging Trends forecast. The latest report from Juniper Research says Internet of Things (IoT) market figures show that the constraint on growth, presented by incumbent eSIM provisioning systems like SMSR (Subscription Management Secure Routing) is to be lifted by mass adoption of a simpler more powerful tool. The problem was that the clunkiness of SMSR limited the number of devices that could be provisioned and managed from a single user interface. However, the relatively new but unused eSIM standard provisioning tool could make eSIM use cases more viable by cutting the cost of mass deployment. eSIM is defined in SGP.31 by the GSMA, and standardises the process for the mass deployment of eSIM-enabled IoT devices.
Despite its potency, early adoption rates of eSIM looked moribund according to reports this time last year, but the pace has picked up. BICS and Thales formed a pact in September 2202 to address the global SIM integration challenge for IoT. In March 2023 Airtel Africa adopted Nokia’s iSIM Secure Connect in a bid to address ten mass markets without sacrificing the integrity of its subscriber management. Nokia is delivering it as a continuous software service (SaaS) rather than a self-managed product installation.
There’s plenty of room for growth. Currently just 2% of all eSIMs in use will be attributable to the IoT sector in 2023, according to the latest report: eSIMs: Emerging Trends, Strategic Recommendations & Market Forecasts 2023-2027. Adoption of eIM tools could change that, however, if there is a favourable reaction them from IoT managers. Juniper says this is likely to happen and predicts the growth of eSIM IoT connections will outpace the consumer sector which includes smartphones, over the next three years. By 2026, 6% of global eSIMs will be attributable to the IoT sector.
The global number of IoT connections using eSIM technology will rise to 195 million by 2026, from just 22 million in 2023, it says. It identified the growing adoption of the variant ‘eIM’ (eSIM IoT Manager) amongst the eSIM platforms that will drive growth over the next three years.
The most immediate use cases for eSIM will in the Logistics and Oil & Gas sectors. The report anticipates that eSIM-enabled IoT devices in service will grow 780% globally over the next three years. It predicted that by 2026 these two markets will account for 75% of eSIMs in use globally; owing to their reliance on LPWA (Low-power, Wide-area) business models that necessitate the use of mass deployment processes.