eSIM technology crucial for IoT, finds new study

A new study commissioned by G+D Mobile Security establishes that eSIM technology is one of the key enablers of IoT. Ranging from smartphones, tablets and wearables to sales terminals, smart meters and connected cars, IoT is about to become the largest machine mankind has ever built – and it is getting bigger every day. The new study, ‘eSIM at an Inflection Point: Adoption poised to accelerate’, carried out by IDC finds that:

• eSIM is one of the technologies that will have the biggest impact on IoT and will push its spread.
• Over 70 percent of the study participants already use eSIM-based solutions or plan to introduce them within the next two years.
• In addition to secure connectivity, the study reveals five additional IoT use cases for eSIM technology: the protection of user identities, device attestation, application and data integrity, data encryption in the cloud as well as data privacy at the edge.
• Besides the already known revenue drivers, the study identifies four further digital sources that can be more easily implemented with eSIM technology: After sales service, remote maintenance, predictive maintenance and customer data analytics.

The iUICC (Integrated Universal Integrated Circuit Card) is the latest eSIM innovation which integrates the connectivity hardware directly into the chip architecture of end devices and no longer as independent chips on their circuit boards. This technology is regarded as viable by the participants of the study, but currently perceived as not yet mature enough due to concerns with respect to security, certification and eco-system readiness.

Carsten Ahrens, CEO of G+D Mobile Security, said eSIM technology is at a turning point and ready for its wider breakthrough, and the study clearly shows that eSIM technology acts as a central enabler of IoT and that the IoT ecosystem is gathering behind it. This is because it opens up numerous use cases as well as revenue streams going far beyond secure connectivity.