The SIM card is overdue – El Nuevo Diario

Taken from El País

The days of physical SIM card are numbered, but still has a long agony until they died out. The integrated SIM or eSIM is now a technical reality year after that operators and handset manufacturers to agree to launch a common standard for the creation of a virtual card pre-installed in the hardware device, which eliminates the need for the physical to be valid for all companies SIM.

But do not throw away your cell phone or retract at the time of renewal. Until the end of 2017, manufacturers will not include this virtual card massively in their terminals or operators offer this facility to its subscribers, according to industry sources.

The main advantage is that it offers eSIM the ability for users to switch companies almost instantly as they agree about the data rates of each, because it is capable of storing the data of all the operators associated profile and user number.

the starting signal for the new virtual eSIM will be at Mobile World Congress (MWC) to be held again in Barcelona (Spain) since 22 February, which was announced in the last edition of 2015 the implementation of the project. In the same forum, the global association of telecom operators (GSMA) announced that they are ready technical specifications, standard and safety eSIM but commercial exploitation come later.

During 2016, equipment manufacturers and operators conducted the first pilot experiments with eSIM.

and you do not have to throw the rooftops. During 2016, equipment manufacturers and operators conducted the first pilot experiments with eSIM, but especially in equipment machine to machine (M2M) installed in cars or security systems and in some weareables such as smart watches. The first pilot projects will be presented at MWC, including one as a Spanish operator Telefonica.

But not until a later stage, from the second half of 2017 or early 2018, when hardware begins to join the first mobile operators commercially and enabled their systems to allow remote management, according to these sources. In fact, none of the high-end devices that will be presented in Barcelona next week for the major brands (Samsung, Huawei, LG, Sony, Xiaomi, etc.) have built-eSIM.

Benefits technical

the officially called SIM GSMA Embedded includes a feature called “interoperability profile” that allows an operator to create a user profile that can be downloaded to any compatible eSIM, regardless of manufacturer or device terminal .

for private users, it represents a clear advantage because they can instantly change operator depending on the rates, especially when traveling abroad have to pay roaming charges. They will receive online offers from foreign companies with local rates and not have to abide by those of its national operator of origin.

But biggest advantage will be for appliances that are governed at a distance, the so-called machine to machine (M2M) and car alarms, input controls and many others. Currently, there are 273 million cellular M2M connections operators worldwide that have signed the protocol eSIM, representing 75% of the total.

A total of 23 mobile operators has signed the protocol for adoption of the single, common and interoperable specification of the new SIM integrated, and eleven of them (AT & T, Bell Canada, Etisalat, Indosat, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Tele2, Telefónica, Vodafone and TeliaSonera) already have commercial launch pilot projects.