Recently, a message from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology responded to netizens and caused heated discussion on the Internet. In the reply, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that the country is organizing research to promote the application of eSIM technology in smartphones and other devices, and will expand the application and promotion of this technology when conditions are mature.
In 2016, the GSM Association released the smartphone eSIM specification, marking the official birth of eSIM. eSIM card is an electronic SIM card. Different from traditional physical SIM cards, eSIM is a data file. Just activate it and then build it into the chip embedded in the mobile phone. It can help the mobile phone terminal to connect to the Internet, make and receive calls, send and receive text messages, etc. It can be said that it is the same as a SIM card in application. In our daily use, traditional SIM cards may need to be replaced, or the card may be cut from to , which may easily cause wear and tear on the card body. The service life is short and it also takes up physical space in the device. In comparison, the eSIM card has stronger performance. In addition to solving the problem of the SIM card slot occupying space on the mobile phone device, it can also enable application activation anytime and anywhere, saving users the trouble of going to and from the business hall. It can be said that eSIM cards have been greatly improved in terms of configuration, size, security, and customer experience.
(SIM and eSIM card size evolution)
Whether we are talking about physical SIM cards or virtual eSIM cards, we have to mention domestic operators. As early as 2018, operators have started the pilot and layout of eSIM services. China Mobile IoT launched the first eSIM chip in China, and China Mobile officially launched the "eSIM One Number Dual Terminal" service in seven cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Chengdu. In the same year, the eSIM services of China Unicom and China Telecom were also launched one after another. However, due to technical limitations at the time, the eSIM service was only used for directional voice and SMS services . At present, the smart devices that support eSIM functions in China are mainly smart watches. I believe that as operators actively carry out relevant pilot exploration efforts to expand the application scope of eSIM cards, perhaps the next application target of eSIM cards will be smartphones that are widely used by people.
It has been several years since the pilot eSIM card service was launched, but why has the eSIM service not been widely used in mobile phone terminals? In fact, the key to the popularity of mobile phones is to achieve interconnection among operators. Because one of the highlights of eSIM cards is that they can be activated in batches online, flexibly activated or changed operators, this requires operators to lower the threshold for users to switch networks and relax control over user communication services. However, operators' business focus is mainly on the C-end market with a large base and large demand. Therefore, to truly realize the popularization of eSIM cards on mobile phones, policies and industry parties still need to coordinate and promote.
Therefore, the industry has not yet decided whether eSIM cards will replace SIM cards. Currently, the Internet of Things era is accelerating, and various wearable devices, smart homes, etc. will appear more and more in our lives. Therefore, it can be inferred that the key areas of eSIM card efforts in the future are likely to be smart watches, smart glasses and other wearable smart devices.
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