The adoption of eSIM and iSIM expertise in mobile IoT connectivity is anticipated to see development, in line with new insights from IoT Analytics. Based mostly on the newest IoT eSIM Modules and iSIM Chipsets Market Tracker and the Mobile IoT Modules & Chipsets Safety Tracker, the put in base of eSIM-capable IoT connectivity modules reached 650 million in 2023.
The lately revealed analysis article particulars that eSIM expertise is well known for its potential to revolutionize mobile IoT connectivity by facilitating distant SIM provisioning, international connectivity, and enhanced safety via hardware-based options.
Regardless of these benefits, adoption has been slower than anticipated because of challenges with distant SIM provisioning and fragmented requirements. Nevertheless, new specs—SGP.31 and SGP.32 from the GSMA—are actually easing these obstacles, offering producers and end-users with clearer frameworks to speed up deployment.
Key insights:
- The put in base of eSIM-capable (together with iSIM) IoT connectivity modules reached 650 million in 2023, in line with IoT Analytics’ IoT eSIM Modules and iSIM Chipsets Market Tracker and Mobile IoT Modules & Chipsets Safety Tracker (each up to date September 2024).
- eSIM expertise represents a paradigm shift in mobile IoT connectivity, enabling distant SIM provisioning, international connectivity, and enhanced safety via a hardware-based strategy.
- Regardless of the advantages, eSIM adoption has been slower than anticipated because of distant SIM provisioning complexities and divergent requirements; current eSIM IoT specs—SGP.31 and SGP.32 from the GSMA—assist producers and finish customers overcome these challenges.
- IoT Analytics forecasts that mobile IoT modules with eSIM expertise will expertise accelerated development beginning in H2 2025.
Choose quotes:
Satyajit Sinha, Principal Analyst at IoT Analytics, feedback that “In Q3 2024, we noticed a notable shift in CEO discussions towards AI functions, renewable power, IT resilience, and the upcoming U.S. elections. Regardless of this shift, financial considerations remained probably the most mentioned theme general. Traditionally, modifications in CEO dialogue themes have been indicators of shifts in sentiment and company funding conduct. I count on these rising matters to play a extra distinguished function in company decision-making shifting ahead.”
The function of eSIM for IoT: Higher safety, simplified roaming, and simpler provisioning—however solely 33% of mobile IoT units use it
IoT connectivity and the rise of eSIM for IoT
Double-digit development anticipated in related IoT units. By the tip of 2023, there have been 16.6 billion related IoT units, in line with current IoT Analytics reporting. This quantity is anticipated to surpass 40 billion in 2030 (rising at 14% CAGR), pushed by the necessity for information assortment and course of and mechanical automation in key industries resembling manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, and good cities.
21% of related IoT units use mobile connectivity. Of the 16.6 billion related IoT units in 2023, 3.56 billion (or 21%) relied on mobile connectivity, in line with IoT Analytics’ International Mobile IoT Connectivity Tracker and Forecast (revealed June 2024). This quantity—together with mobile connectivity’s general share of IoT connections—is anticipated to develop with the rising adoption of 5G applied sciences. Little question, mobile IoT has turn out to be vital for functions requiring mobility and dependable long-range protection—the query turns into about mobile IoT scalability and safety.
eSIM expertise addresses limitations of conventional SIM playing cards in mobile IoT connectivity. Historically, mobile IoT connections relied on bodily SIM playing cards, which have been usually locked into particular suppliers and required swapping when getting into new areas, international locations, and even protection areas inside international locations, which isn’t possible at scale and could be expensive and labor-intensive. Moreover, mobile IoT units leveraging conventional SIM playing cards usually ship with out devoted hardware-based safety, which means they both depend on non-hardware-based safety options or lack any safety options. Nevertheless, a contemporary SIM-type expertise helps tackle these deployment and safety limitations: embedded SIMs (eSIMs).
Because the title suggests, eSIMs (together with built-in SIMs, or iSIMs) are a part of the mobile IoT module {hardware}. They’re distinctive and programmable, permitting for distant, over-the-air community provisioning of community profiles. Additional, eSIMs embrace embedded safe parts, and being rooted within the mobile IoT modules as distinctive parts, they improve the integrity of the modules and the IoT units into which they turn out to be built-in (extra on these advantages under).
33% of shipped mobile IoT modules have been eSIM-capable. In keeping with IoT Analytics’ International IoT eSIM Modules & iSIM Chipsets Market Tracker (up to date September 2024), a 3rd of the overall mobile IoT modules shipped in Q2 2024 have been eSIM-capable—which means they included an eSIM within the module—in comparison with 62.3% utilizing bodily SIM playing cards, with the rest using Comfortable SIM expertise. Additional, since eSIM expertise incorporates embedded safe parts that shield the integrity of mobile IoT modules, which means 33% of mobile IoT modules shipped included devoted hardware-based safety, in line with IoT Analytics’ International Mobile IoT Modules & Chipsets Safety Tracker (additionally up to date September 2024).
How eSIM expertise works in IoT
An eSIM is an built-in circuit that mixes {hardware}, a safe aspect, and software program known as a common built-in circuit card (UICC). eSIMs are sometimes accessible in numerous kind components, together with machine-to-machine kind issue (MFF2), wafer-level chip scale packaging (WLCSP), and miniaturized leadless packages. Particularly, eSIMs use an embedded UICC (eUICC) with a safe aspect for enhanced safety in IoT units.
An iSIM is a sort of eSIM the place an built-in UICC (iUICC) with a safe aspect is manufactured right into a system-on-chip (SoC) or system-in-package (SiP), which then turns into built-in right into a mobile IoT module.
Key advantages of eSIM for IoT
The rise of eSIM expertise represents greater than only a mere technological development—it’s a paradigm shift. The expertise is concerning the seamless integration and simplification of mobile connectivity in IoT units and enhancing consumer experiences. As mentioned under, eSIMs are central to reworking the dynamics of the mobile IoT market primarily based primarily on 3 key facets of the expertise: 1) distant provisioning, 2) international connectivity and scalability, and three) enhanced safety.
1. Distant SIM provisioning in eSIM administration
Distant SIM provisioning (RSP), a function standardized by the GSM Affiliation (GSMA), allows the distant administration of SIM profiles over the air, eliminating the necessity for bodily SIM card replacements. It gives a extra environment friendly means to handle units and has 2 main advantages:
- Enhanced flexibility – With RSP, organizations can provision IoT units with totally different service profiles remotely, enabling seamless community switching. That is notably useful for companies working throughout a number of international locations or areas—and even inside international locations the place areas lack protection from one service however have protection from one other. For instance, a logistics firm can remotely provision its monitoring units to native carriers as shipments cross borders, guaranteeing constant connectivity with out handbook intervention—i.e., swapping bodily SIM playing cards.
- Diminished provisioning time – RSP considerably reduces the time required to deploy IoT devicces. Companies can remotely activate and handle SIM profiles to expedite their go-to-market methods (extra go-to-market time under). Massive-scale IoT deployments turn out to be extra manageable, as units could be arrange and up to date in bulk with out the logistical challenges of dealing with bodily SIM playing cards.
2. International connectivity and scalability: Accelerated go-to-market
eSIM expertise empowers IoT units with international connectivity, which is essential for companies aiming to function internationally. The expertise affords a number of distinct benefits:
- Seamless international operations – Units geared up with an eSIM can hook up with native networks worldwide with out requiring handbook reconfiguration, simplifying cross-border operations. That is particularly necessary for asset monitoring and logistics use instances, the place units should stay related throughout numerous areas. eSIM expertise eliminates the necessity for conventional roaming agreements, guaranteeing constant efficiency and compliance with native laws.
- Bodily SIM roaming vs. eSIM roaming – Roaming with bodily SIM playing cards sometimes entails dependency on native carriers’ roaming agreements, resulting in inconsistent efficiency, greater prices, and extra complexity in managing connectivity throughout a number of areas. In distinction, eSIM expertise, mixed with RSP and eSIM administration, allows seamless, cost-effective roaming by dynamically choosing and switching between native carriers as wanted. This flexibility permits companies to streamline their operations, keep away from conventional roaming fees, and cut back the chance of service disruptions.
- Scalability – The flexibility to handle connectivity remotely is a game-changer for corporations scaling their IoT deployments. With eSIM, companies can remotely provision new units immediately, including them to the community without having bodily intervention. This reduces the time to marketplace for new services or products, enabling corporations to broaden shortly and effectively. By permitting for the immediate addition of units to a community, eSIMs supply important operational agility, serving to companies keep aggressive and reply sooner to shifting market calls for.
Case research: International logistics firm switches to eSIM for IoT-based asset monitoring
State of affairs: A world logistics firm ran a large-scale IoT-based asset-tracking units throughout Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific area utilizing bodily SIM playing cards.
Problem: Typically, a bodily SIM swap was essential to entry native MNO networks, which was labor-intensive.
Answer: The logistics firm partnered with Infineon, a Germany-based semiconductor producer and Tata Communications, an India-based telecommunications firm to make use of eSIMs as a substitute of bodily SIMs (Utilizing OPTIGA Join eSIM and Tata Communication’s MOVE platform).
Outcomes: The answer changed the normal SIM card with a soldered eSIM, eradicating the necessity to exchange SIM playing cards. This resolution eradicated the necessity to obtain credentials when crossing borders, enabled seamless connectivity, and supplied entry to Tata Communication’s pre-negotiated charges with roughly 600 MNOs in over 200 international locations and territories. Additional, by changing the a number of SIM batches of the earlier resolution with Infineon’s eSIM, the corporate solely needed to handle a single SKU.
3. Enhanced safety with embedded safe parts in eSIM
Software program and community safety options have traditionally overshadowed {hardware} safety in IoT because of their visibility and less complicated implementation, whereas {hardware} safety is usually extra complicated and dear. Nevertheless, a hardware-based root of belief (HRoT) permits producers and customers to make sure module authenticity, addressing cloning, counterfeiting, and key safety. As soon as key safety is assured, further parts, like safe boot or TrustZone, from UK-based semiconductor producer Arm, could be added. For IoT, eSIM expertise is rising as an HRoT, supported by initiatives like IoT SAFE.
eSIMs incorporate embedded safe parts, providing superior security measures surpassing conventional SIM playing cards. These safe parts act as an HRoT, enabling stronger safety via uneven encryption and guaranteeing safe, end-to-end communication.
- HRoT for enhanced encryption – The embedded safe aspect is the muse for safe operations by guaranteeing that cryptographic keys and delicate information are securely saved and processed throughout the system. This makes eSIMs notably well-suited for industries requiring excessive ranges of information safety, resembling monetary providers, healthcare, and significant infrastructure. The safe aspect ensures that communication channels between IoT units and networks stay protected against interception or tampering, lowering the chance of cyberattacks.
- GSMA IoT SAFE specs – The GSMA’s IoT Safety Structure for Finish-to-Finish Safety (IoT SAFE) specs additional improve the safety supplied by eSIM expertise. IoT SAFE makes use of eSIM as an HRoT, enabling safe system authentication and encryption providers for IoT functions. By leveraging the safe aspect throughout the eSIM/iSIM, companies can make sure that their IoT units meet stringent safety requirements and are protected against rising cybersecurity threats.
“For producers, establishing these roots of belief would be the first step in guaranteeing a brand new system is constructed to incorporate trustable safety. Kigen has been driving standardizing the RoT inside a tool’s SIM, eSIM or iSIM: an strategy that ensures a typical mechanism for safe information communications utilizing a extremely trusted and time-tested module. It affords an economical mechanism for cloud authentication and end-to-end safety, since SIMs are already used for authentication on cell networks. That is particularly necessary for IP and information belief within the period of AI for realizing the imaginative and prescient of a very safe IoT, from chip to cloud.” – Loic Bonvarlet, SVP, Kigen
Overcoming hindrances to widespread eSIM for IoT adoption
eSIM adoption has stagnated in recent times. Even with these advantages of eSIM over different SIM-type applied sciences, widespread eSIM adoption has been slower than anticipated, which has led to a plateau within the share of shipments of mobile IoT modules with eSIM expertise in comparison with the cargo of such modules with different SIM-type expertise—holding round 30% since late 2019. In flip, this has additionally plateaued the cargo share of mobile IoT modules with hardware-based safety in comparison with modules with different or no devoted safety general.
Interoperability points and sophisticated RSP requirements are causes for sluggish adoption. The delay in widespread adoption of eSIM for IoT (and typically) stems from challenges related to RSP and divergent requirements for client IoT units versus machine-to-machine (M2M) applied sciences in enterprises, which have led to interoperability challenges and system administration problems. For instance, SGP.02, the GSMA’s specification for RSP in M2M units, has limitations which have hindered eSIM expertise adoption within the general IoT market (client and enterprise). Its structure requires a number of practical entities, such because the Subscription Supervisor Information Preparation (SM-DP) and Subscription Supervisor Safe Routing (SM-SR). These practical entities improve deployment complexity and operational overhead, limiting scalability for large-scale IoT deployments and adaptability in operator switching because of static profile administration.
SGP.31 and SGP.32 purpose to simplify eSIM IoT architectures. To deal with these challenges, the GSMA has launched two eSIM IoT specs—SGP.31 and SGP.32—designed to enhance M2M specification SGP.02 and client IoT specification SGP.22. The releases of SGP.31 and SGP.32 introduced forth 3 important modifications to deal with the challenges which have up to now hindered widespread adoption:
- Introducing the eSIM IoT Distant Supervisor (eIM) – This element streamlines distant profile administration and provisioning processes, lowering complexity.
- Reworking the Native Profile Assistant (LPA) into the IoT Profile Assistant (IPA) – This alteration eliminates the necessity for consumer interplay throughout provisioning, simplifying IoT connectivity and lowering time to marketplace for IoT deployments.
- Changing SM-SR with Subscription Supervisor Discovery Server (SM-DS) and IPA within the structure – This eliminates the necessity for SM-SR in eSIM IoT deployments and reduces reliance on service integration.
In all, SGP.31 and SGP.32 purpose to simplify the structure, improve scalability with environment friendly provisioning protocols appropriate for large-scale IoT deployments, and enhance flexibility in operator choice with on-demand profile switching.
Analyst opinion and market outlook
eSIM is a winner for IoT: Higher safety whereas bettering value effectivity. At the moment, two-thirds of all mobile IoT module shipments lack assist for HRoT—the muse of IoT safety. eSIM expertise facilitates uneven encryption for safe chip-to-cloud communication by injecting the safety key into the HRoT. Thus, implementing eSIMs into mobile IoT modules permits OEMs and finish customers to deal with two main challenges: international connectivity and safety. Additional, since IoT safety has historically been considered as an added value, adopting eSIM expertise permits OEMs to distribute the return on funding extra effectively.
All mobile IoT use instances profit from eSIM. Whereas the roaming advantage of eSIMs favors asset monitoring sort of use instances, the improved security measures and straightforward distant provisioning (i.e., switching between totally different cell operators) profit all main IoT initiatives that make use of mobile connectivity. IoT Analytics, subsequently, expects adoption throughout most, if not all, IoT use instances (good meters, automobiles, well being units, and so on.).
Adoption anticipated to speed up by late 2025. Given the discharge of SGP.31 and SGP.32, there’s purpose to count on accelerating development within the eSIM market. Nevertheless, the total commercialization of SGP.32 will solely start in 2025 because of the want for widespread business adoption and infrastructure upgrades. Whereas SGP.31 is already facilitating development, SGP.32 introduces extra superior options that require important testing, integration, and compliance throughout numerous stakeholders earlier than it may be absolutely deployed. This gradual roll-out ensures that the required ecosystem changes are made, minimizing potential disruptions and permitting for smoother transitions. With this, the IoT eSIM Modules and iSIM Chipsets Market Tracker tasks accelerated development within the shipments of mobile IoT modules with eSIM expertise by Q3 and This fall 2025. This acceleration in cargo development helps evaluation within the Mobile IoT Modules & Chipsets Safety Tracker that shipments of mobile IoT modules with hardware-based safety will see accelerated development in 2025 and onward as effectively.
Supply: IoT Analytics
