Tobias Weber
More than six years of experience as a senior editor in the realm of smart home, connectivity and Internet of Things. And still as curious as on the first day.
Quick definition: eUICC stands for Embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card. It’s a component of a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card that lets you switch Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) Over-the-Air (OTA). This technology has been a game changer for cellular IoT because it simplifies global deployment and mobile machine-to-machine applications.
In IoT, it’s important to understand how different technologies impact your connectivity, integrations, and costs. In consumer situations, eUICCs are a cost-effective method of switching operator profiles. In the M2M use cases it requires an upfront investment to create new integrations and involves changing some of your systems.
Another option is to use multi-IMSI SIM cards that already provide several operator profiles that automatically switch when entering a country - while staying on the same communication platform.
At EMnify we enable manufacturers to build truly global IoT devices. If you have any questions relating to eUICCs and the best platform for enabling this technology, our team is always happy to help and offer advice.
In the last 20 years of GSM connectivity, there has never been a development like this. The eUICC has been dubbed the next evolution of the SIM because it enables users to change provider profiles OTA, revolutionizing the way SIM cards connect globally.
But there’s still one major consideration you need to keep in mind when initiating an eUICC deployment: your plan for switching MNOs.
An eUICC makes it possible to change MNOs remotely. But it’s really only convenient for consumers. For M2M manufacturers, it’s both expensive and difficult to reintegrate your service profile and associated rules and controls into a new MNOs infrastructure.
Your connectivity management, billing, and provisioning systems all depend on your service profile and these established rules and controls. It’s these dependencies and the potential interruption to them in the event of changing your MNO that you need to plan for when initiating an eUICC deployment.
When selecting a SIM provider and an IoT connectivity platform, you need to understand how they will aid the potential switching process and affect your systems.
The following questions can help you preempt any issues with the controls your connectivity system depends on: