Scaling eSIM in IoT markets: new tech and market developments should help accelerate adoption
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Scaling eSIM in IoT markets: new tech and market developments should help accelerate adoption
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EX. VATThis report is included within a GSMA Intelligence subscription, providing access to our full research library and data platform, with savings of up to 90% annually, contact our team for details.
Contact useSIM adoption in the IoT market is still low relative to its long-term potential. As new developments should help accelerate this, we surveyed 100 operators globally to understand their views on three main areas of eSIM. When operators speak to their enterprise customers about the benefits of eSIM for IoT deployments, security and scalability are the eSIM benefits most often included in their conversations to drive interest in eSIM deployments. There is a consensus among operators that enterprise demands for eSIM-enabled solutions will grow across most industries during 2024–2025, with Smart Cities leading the way. Looking further ahead, operators expect eSIM to account for 37% of the total number of cellular IoT connections by 2030, followed by the integrated SIM (iSIM) at 34% and the traditional removable SIM at 29%.
Report details
Scaling eSIM in IoT markets: new tech and market developments should help accelerate adoption
£750
EX. VATThis report is included within a GSMA Intelligence subscription, providing access to our full research library and data platform, with savings of up to 90% annually, contact our team for details.
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Learn moreRelated research
The digital consumer in 2026: how consumer behaviour is changing across 5G, AI, eSIM, devices and content
Leveraging data from the 2025 survey, conducted between June and August, this report provides relevant insights into how the consumer behaviour is changing across eight topic areas: 5G; devices; eSIM; generative AI; pay TV; gaming; the metaverse and extended reality; and sustainability.
Consumers in Focus: eSIM User Behaviour Survey Dashboard 2026
This dashboard, based on GSMA Intelligence 2025 consumer survey, provides all the relevant data related to eSIM user behaviour in a consistent and structured way – a valuable asset for companies looking to formulate or adjust their consumer commercial strategies and plans.
eSIM will unlock LPWAN-based IoT opportunities
eSIM technology can help solve a number of issues for low-power wide-area networks (LPWAN) as they scale into large-scale deployments. These issues include the higher cost and complexity of provisioning devices with physical SIM cards, device and lifecycle management, and higher opex due to required human intervention. The greater the adoption and spread of LPWAN, the greater the operational challenges for IoT service providers – but eSIM can address most of these challenges.
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