Cellular industry to standardise embedded SIMs

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 18 November 2010 14:35

Business IT - Technology

The day is not far off when a whole range of electronic devices from smart meters to ereaders, and even perhaps your fridge and your washing machine will ship with embedded cellular communications capability that can be turned on at the time of purchase.

The global GSM Assocation (GSMA) has form a task force of mobile operators to explore the development of an embedded SIM for machine-to-machine and other devices that can be remotely activated.

It says the move is expected to enable the design of "exciting new form factors for mobile communications" and to speed the development of M2M services by making it easier to bring mobile broadband to non-traditional devices such as cameras, MP3 players, navigation devices and e-Readers, as well as smart meters.

Rob Conway, CEO and member of the board of the GSMA, said: "As our industry moves from connecting phones to connecting a wide range of devices, it is apparent that the embedded SIM could deliver even greater flexibility. The embedded SIM will provide assured levels of security and portability for consumers, as well as provide additional functionality for enabling new services such as e-Wallet and NFC applications."

The main use of embedded SIMS at present is in devices for machine-to-machine communications current SIM eco system is ill-suited to an industry where SIMs are often embedded in devices manufactured in factories remote from the networks in which they will be used and months before those devices are installed and activated.

In a bid to overcome these problems and to boost its own M2M business, Telstra in September announced, in partnership with UK company Jasper Wireless, a service that enables organisations wanting to incorporate Telstra SIMs into M2M devices to do so at minimal cost until these are activated by the end user, and to manage and monitor these SIMs via a web portal.

The GSMA-led task force comprises technical experts drawn from operators including AT&T, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom Orange, KT, NTT Docomo, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.

The group will work in cooperation with major SIM producers to analyse market requirements and deliver a technical solution as an evolution of the current SIM provisioning mechanisms. The proposed embedded SIM will include programmable SIM card capabilities to enable remote activation.

The group is expected to complete the analysis of market requirements by January 2011 and devices featuring the new SIM activation capability are expected to appear in 2012. GSMA says: "The resulting technical solution will be built on the principles of openness and standardisation."