NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper seeking stakeholder views on the use and sale of foreign telecom service providers’ SIMs and eSIMs in India, specifically for integration into machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices that are meant for export.
The consultation paper explores whether a new service authorisation should be introduced under the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) policy framework to allow the sale of foreign SIMs/eSIMs in India. The paper also seeks to identify any regulatory issues that may arise—such as those involving the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Customs, or other authorities—with respect to the export of Indian telecom service providers’ M2M SIMs/eSIMs, especially in scenarios involving import of such devices using Indian SIMs abroad.
TRAI has invited inputs on various aspects of the proposed framework, including the terms and conditions for such a service, eligibility criteria, applicable fees, and the validity period for the use of these foreign SIMs/eSIMs in M2M and IoT applications.
The response of TRAI came after certain Indian manufacturers who export IoT/M2M devices to international markets have requested that foreign SIMs be made available to them in India for integration into their products prior to export. This would enable the devices to operate on foreign networks immediately upon deployment abroad. In response, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has received multiple requests seeking provisions under its No Objection Certificate (NOC) policy to permit the sale of foreign operators’ SIMs/eSIMs in India for such specific use cases.
The idea behind eSIMs (digital SIM cards built into devices) started in 2010. The GSMA, a global mobile industry group, introduced it as a flexible replacement for the physical SIM cards we put in our phones.
At first, eSIMs were mainly for M2M (Machine-to-Machine) communication, which is when machines talk to each other.M2M technology itself is like giving devices their own brains to talk to each other and automate tasks. For these M2M and IoT (Internet of Things) devices, the SIM cards (both regular and eSIMs) are often built right into the device during manufacturing.
Now, Indian companies that make these smart devices for export want to put the correct foreign SIMs inside their products before they even leave India. This way, when the devices arrive in another country, they can connect to the local network instantly.
Source: The New Indian Express
