eSIM to Create Significant Opportunities for Operators & Ecosystem

PDF | 10 pages
Published date: August 2020

Overview

Cellular connectivity is the pivotal technology powering a global-scale digital transformation. With more than two billion mobile devices1 sold every year, cellular connectivity drives communication, collaboration, commerce, content consumption and creation. The SIM is the key enabling technology that harnesses the connectivity in the mobile device for a secure and ubiquitous connected experience. However, the rapid evolution of the SIM from a traditional plug-in card to an embedded (eSIM) form-factor is not only revolutionizing the mobile users’ connectivity experience, but also driving significant cost savings and unlocking new revenue generation opportunities for operators and other stakeholders.

The migration to eSIM is already happening and is being driven by the world’s leading device manufacturers, operators and traditional SIM vendors. The adoption of eSIM has already reached mass market levels for diverse applications including connected cars, enterprise IoT modules, consumer IoT devices such as smartwatches, asset trackers and, of course, smartphones. The adoption in high-ARPU devices such as smartphones is critical and already reaching mainstream.

This calls for those operators who are not yet eSIM-ready to jump on the eSIM bandwagon to save costs, improve customer activation experiences and to capitalize on new revenue generation opportunities. Partnerships are going to be the key to reach wider audiences, crafting seamless connectivity experiences to capture significant value. eSIM platform providers to eSIM marketplaces such as Airalo are a great starting point for operators to accelerate time-to-market and capitalize on the significant eSIM opportunity ahead of them.

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary

• The rise of eSIM

• eSIM benefits & opportunities

• Key takeaways

Authors

Neil Sha
Research Vice President

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