July 18^th, 2019

Global shipments of eSIM capable devices (including vehicles) is estimated to reach close to two billion units in shipments by 2025, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s ETO (Emerging Technology Opportunities) Service. This eSIM adoption is driven by a maturing eSIM ecosystem with leading eSIM enablement providers supplying eSIM solutions to cellular device makers, connected car manufacturers, and other service and connectivity providers globally. Counterpoint has also evaluated another important cog in the eSIM value chain, the key eSIM management solutions providers helping the service providers for secure eSIM provisioning, profile activations, lifecycle management and help drive newer business models in a scalable manner. Highlighting the research findings, Research Analyst Satyajit Sinha, noted, “eSIM management services, especially Remote Service Provisioning (RSP), is the key to securely managing the lifecycle of cellular subscription profiles remotely. RSP on M2M devices utilizes a server-driven push model operating without any human control, whereas, the consumer solution follows a client-driven pull model, controlled by the end-user. Hence, the architecture of RSP on M2M devices differs from consumer devices, which leads to the requirement of different elements. M2M services require Subscription Manager Data Preparation (SM-DP) and Subscription Manager Secure Routing (SM-SR), while consumer services require Subscription Manager Data Preparation for Consumer (SM-DP+) and Subscription Manager Discovery Server (SM-DS).” Gemalto is the leading provider of end-to-end feature-rich eSIM management platform, followed by G+D, Truphone, IDEMIA, and VALID. The evaluation is based on the completeness of the platform providers offering, level of GSMA compliance, the number of eSIM RSP management platforms deployments, diversity of end-customers, and other key parameters.

Exhibit 1: eSIM Management Scorecard Evaluation and Analysis

Source: eSIM Ecosystem - Opportunities, Trends, Evaluation, Analysis, and Outlook

Commenting on the eSIM management competition, Research Director Neil Shah, highlighted, “Companies like Gemalto, G+D, IDEMIA, VALID, and Workz provide both eSIM enablement and management services. They rely on network operator partnerships for global reach. Companies like Truphone, RedteaMobile, Telna, and GigSky not only provide eSIM enablement and management services but are also Mobile Virtual Network Operators/Mobile Virtual Network Enablers offering bootstrapped and other connectivity options to the end-customer. This makes them more complete eSIM solutions providers. Out of these, Truphone and GigSky are poised for stronger growth in the coming years. Further, the regional specialists such as RedteaMobile, Workz, Cubic Telecom, Roam2free are eyeing global expansion with their offerings through multiple partnerships across the value chain.” Shah further added, “It will be interesting to see how players such as ARM and Qualcomm evolve by offering the integrated SIM solutions, which appears to be the bright future of the eSIM form-factor evolution. ARM through multiple acquisitions and in-house security heritage has developed a robust end-to-end integrated SIM offering from enablement to management. However, we are yet to see what Qualcomm has up its sleeves though the recent support for iSIM in its latest Snapdragon 855 chipset could be the first step in this direction for the leading smartphone SoC vendor globally. If iSIM attains the GSMA compliance in the next few years, the competitive landscape could look a lot more different from eSIM enablement to management.” The comprehensive and in-depth report on “eSIM Ecosystem - Opportunities, Trends, Evaluation, Analysis, and Outlook” are part of our Counterpoint’s ETO Service. This report is available for download here Background: Counterpoint Technology Market Research is a global research firm specializing in Technology products in the TMT industry. It services major technology firms and financial firms with a mix of monthly reports, customized projects and detailed analysis of the mobile and technology markets. Its key analysts are experts in the industry with an average tenure of 13 years in the high-tech industry. Analyst Contacts: Satyajit Sinha Neil Shah   Peter Richardson   Counterpoint Research press(at)counterpointresearch.com