Last week, US telecoms operator AT&T announced the arrival of its ‘’Single SIM solution’’ making it the first operator in the world to announce the use of a global SIM designed according to the GSMA Embedded SIM specification. So what’s the significance of this announcement? The GSMA’s Embedded SIM specification allows an appropriate in-country profile to be downloaded onto the SIM according to where the SIM is activated for use, allowing AT&T and other operators across the world to enable multi-national companies to connect, manage and support a range of global connected machine-to-machine (M2M) devices wirelessly. In short, AT&T’s global SIM solution enables companies worldwide to connect devices, machines and/or cars via a single platform.
The GSMA’s Connected Living programme is an initiative set up to help operators accelerate the delivery of new connected devices and services in the M2M market. AT&T’s announcement underlines the work the GSMA has been driving in this sector and is a very progressive step forward for the M2M industry. The GSMA is focused on helping operators around the world to develop and deploy solutions that are compliant with the GSMA Embedded SIM specification. This is a critical factor in the development of the M2M market, as it will enable a single, standardised solution across the industry, reducing fragmentation and driving economies of scale.
In December 2013, we published guidelines and specifications for the remote over-the-air (OTA) provisioning and management of embedded SIMs in M2M devices. While AT&T may be the first operator to deliver a solution based on the GSMA Embedded SIM specification, it’s certainly not the only operator to back the standard; operators including China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, NTT DOCOMO and Telenor also welcome the GSMA Embedded SIM specification.
The GSMA specification sets a standard that helps operators avoid having to develop proprietary technical solutions for the remote personalization of SIMs. We believe that the adoption of the GSMA Embedded SIM specification will help foster growth and lower operational costs in the M2M marketplace worldwide and establish a common, global and interoperable Embedded SIM remote provisioning architecture.
AT&T has operated in one of the worlds most advanced M2M markets for over 10 years. In the US, one of the world’s largest and most advanced M2M markets, one in 10 of all mobile connections are M2M, compared with one in 20 in Europe, and one in 100 in Africa, according to a new GSMA report “Driving Innovation in Connected Living – The US Flags the Future of M2M”. The report highlights that the US accounted for 35 M2M million connections, equivalent to 19% of global M2M connections at the end of 2013 according to GSMA Intelligence. This figure is forecasted to reach 41 million this year, driven, in large part, by developments and advances in the region’s automotive, utilities and oil and gas sectors.
The GSMA report underscores a number of factors underlying the strength of the US M2M industry, including US operators’ abilities to develop strategic alliances and tactical partnerships with industry specialists in order to effectively meet the region’s growing demand for M2M services in key vertical sectors.
To find out more information about the GSMA Connected Living Programme, including access to the GSMA report on the US M2M Market, further insight on the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification, and upcoming events planned by the programme for 2014, please visit http://www.gsma.com/connectedliving