Beecham Research Confirms GSMA Embedded SIM Specification Will Help Growth of M2M Industry

At Mobile 360-Middle East held last week in Dubai, the GSMA released a new independent report written by technology research firm Beecham Research. The report ‘Benefits Analysis of the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification on the Mobile M2M Industry’ highlights how immediate industry-wide adoption and deployment of the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification will aid the growth of the global M2M industry. Designed to help operators avoid having to develop proprietary technical solutions for the remote provisioning of SIMs, it is anticipated the specification will help deliver 34% higher market growth by 2020.

The report includes viewpoints from players across the M2M ecosystem, including SIM vendors, automotive manufacturers, digital security companies, wireless module suppliers and mobile operators. It also outlines the importance of a single, standardised solution as proprietary M2M solutions are not compatible with each other and have created market fragmentation. The adoption of the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification will help foster growth in the M2M marketplace worldwide thanks, in major part, to the establishment of a common, global and interoperable Embedded SIM remote provisioning architecture. The specification promotes a common global architecture that will reduce operational costs, drive efficiencies and further accelerate the rapidly growing M2M market – set to reach 244 million global connections by end of December 2014, according to GSMA Intelligence.

The report underscores Beecham’s expectations for the uptake of the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification over the next few years. Beecham forecasts that the automotive industry will be the largest vertical sector to implement the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification, particularly over 2014 to 2016. The specification will allow mobile network operators to provide scalable, reliable and secure connectivity for M2M connected devices that are often hermetically sealed in devices and geographically dispersed, such as the connected car.

The consumer electronics sector is expected to become the second largest vertical sector to adopt the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification between 2016-2020, driven by emerging consumer device segments such as wearable devices, connected cameras and connected bikes to name but a few. Following this, additional sectors, such as utilities, security and transport, are expected to realise the value that the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification is bringing to the consumer tech and automotive industries in terms of cost savings and opportunities and, as a result, a wide range of entities within these additional sectors are anticipated to adopt the specification, particularly during 2018 to 2020.

Support for the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification

On October 13, at Mobile 360-Middle East, the GSMA announced that  AT&T, Etisalat, NTT DOCOMO, Telefónica and Vodafone Group had all launched solutions that were compliant with the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification. SIM and module manufacturers Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Morpho (Safran), Oberthur Technologies, Sierra Wireless and Telit have also launched solutions compliant with the specification. A range of other players including Ericsson, Jasper and Telenor Connexion have also committed to  deploying solutions that meet the requirements dictated by the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification. Operators including China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Telecom Italia have previously voiced their support for the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification.

Secure use of the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification

Security of the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification has also been a hot topic and area of discussion among ecosystem players. The GSMA’s Embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) Protection Profile and the GSMA Security Accreditation Scheme (SAS) are evaluations that have been designed to help ensure maximum security of the GSMA Embedded SIM solution. The GSMA SAS enables mobile network operators to assess the security of SIM vendors, while the GSMA Embedded UICC Protection Profile states a security problem for the GSMA Embedded UICC and specifies the security requirements to address that problem without dictating how these requirements will be implemented. In some cases, devices such as the connected car or connected consumer electronic products are used over long periods of time, e.g. of up to 10 years or more, and therefore need to be future proofed in order to withstand a range of potential attacks, e.g. hacking, theft and/or viruses, that could strike at anytime.

About the GSMA Connected Living Programme

To find out more information about the GSMA Connected Living Programme, including access to the “Benefits Analysis of the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification on the Mobile M2M Industry’’ report, and upcoming events planned by the programme for 2014, please visit

http://www.gsma.com/connectedliving.