World / Spain .- The physical chip that identifies the client will disappear and bring changes as express portability, the end of roaming, the sale of services by manufacturers and the need to convert the stores.
The companies in the telecommunications sector, both operators and manufacturers, this year faced one of the greatest technological revolutions of mobile telecommunications: the disappearance of the SIM, the chip card incorporating customer data and identifies it to the network operator.
This card, provided by operators and mobile removable media, it will be replaced by a fixed chip factory installed on the mobile device. Telecom operators have resisted change for years technically possible for the risks inherent to its business, as the SIM is the bond with your customer operator. The popularization of the new electronic SIM, or eSIM, starting this year, will have a major impact on the whole industry and the way in which devices and services are marketed.
The GSMA, employers that groups all telecom operators and manufacturers, already have available the first technical specification for implementing this technology, which will immediately and will be one of the big announcements of the upcoming Mobile World Congress, held in Barcelona from February 22.
Two phases
This first technical specification, called Phase 1, will be available imminently to be installed on all types of devices except smartphones. That is, it applies to tablets, smart watches and all kinds of wearable and cars. In this standard will be followed by Phase 2, expected after the summer, aimed at smartphones and to store a large number of profiles, ie accounts in which a relationship between the customer and an operator is established.
As you may have many roles, may be preloaded many different operators, but can only have one active profile each time, That would allow, for example, express portability, having a huge speed when changing operator, which takes a few minutes, since it avoids the need for physical SIM of the new operator.
The end of that physical SIM traffic, substantially impact the crowds passing through the mobile stores. In addition, the transfer to remote activation model, allow busy divert management clients to the online world, which will be an advantage in costs for operators. However, for physical distribution channels, it ie own or linked to operators stores, the change will be a challenge, as it will question its value. Probably, to have less trafficking, the current volume of shops and establishments must be reduced will have to deepen the transformation already suffering: fewer stores, but larger and more experienced staff to advise customers on the use of increasingly complex devices.
Another important effect will, predictably, on the costs of international roaming. If the customer can carry on your device twenty different operator profiles, you have the ability, as has already happened with the last iPad Air to customers EU- power switch carriers when traveling and always use a fee from an operator local. The impact on roaming charges within Europe will not be very pronounced, and that in any case, the concept of extra costs for roaming will disappear by law in Europe in 2017. But it may force operators to be more proactive and drastically reduce these costs in international travel, if not want to risk that customers change their consumption habits and use local operators in each country.
Technological Change
The operators have been forced to yield to technological change because the current model is impossible to prominence in the new frontier of the sector: the Internet of Things (IoT or Internet of Things) that provides most objects of daily use are connected to mobile networks.
This requires that objects (cars, household appliances, clothes, watches and other wearable, etc) with built-in series the SIM, which is to be activated remotely and automated way, to become the eSIM.
Otherwise, that is to keep physical SIM, it is highly unlikely that users accediesen to connect all everyday objects. In fact, as an example, according to industry sources, 80% of the tablets that have the capacity to use 3G or 4G networks, only use WiFi connections.
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