It’s been a while since I wrote detailed posts explaining UICC and SIM cards. Since then the SIM cards have evolved from Mini SIM to Micro SIM and Nano SIM. They are evolving even further, especially for M2M / IoT devices as embedded SIM (eSIM or eUICC) and integrated SIM (iSIM).
Embedded SIMs (eSIMs) or embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Cards (eUICCs) are physical SIMs that are soldered into the device and enable storage and remote management of multiple network operator profiles (remote SIM provisioning). The form factor of eSIM is known as MFF2.
The integrated SIMs (iSIMs) moves the SIM from a separate chip into a secure enclave alongside the application processor and cellular radio on a purpose-built system on a chip (SoC).
We made a short tutorial explaining UICC & SIM and then looking at eSIM, iSIM and how remote SIM provisioning works. The video and slides are embedded below. The slides contain a lot of useful links for further reading.
Related Posts:
- The 3G4G Blog: Multi-SIM: The Jargon
- The 3G4G Blog: M2M embedded UICC (eSIM) Architecture and Use Cases
- The 3G4G Blog: The Journey from Communications Service Provider (CSP) to Digital Service Provider (DSP)
- 3G4G: MNO, MVNO, MVNA, MVNE: Different types of mobile operators
- The 3G4G Blog: UICC and ISIM (IMS SIM)