The way mobile operators market devices and design service plans could change dramatically if a reported collaboration between carriers and device makers comes to fruition. According to the Financial Times, AT&T, Apple, Samsung and several European carriers are close to announcing an agreement to produce embedded SIM cards that would facilitate customer moves between networks.
The SIM card, of course, is just one part of what locks a customer into a given carrier. Smartphone radios support specific spectrum bands, so in order for a phone to move easily between carriers it would need a radio that supported many bands. Google and Apple have both started down this path already, sourcing LTE radios that enable their mobile devices to work on multiple carrier networks.
An embedded SIM that can support multiple operators is a goal of industry group GSMA, which is looking to see an embedded SIM for mobile devices on the market by next year.
Apple has already experimented with the “universal SIM” concept in its latest iPad, which includes an Apple-branded SIM that enables the iPad to work on AT&T Mobility’s network, Sprint’s network and T-Mobile US’ network in the U.S. The Financial Times reports that the GSMA initiative does not envision a SIM card that would replace the Apple SIM, and that the group is still working to win Apple’s full support for its plan.
The GSMA has already created a specification for an embedded SIM for machine-to-machine connections. The spec provides a standard mechanism for the remote provisioning and management of M2M connections, allowing operators to provision devices in real-time and move them from one operator network to another.
Image source: GSMA
