INTERVIEW Andrew Dickinson - Jola
“My advice would be to specialise in a growth sector and partner for things like
portals, gateways and sensors “ Andrew Dickinson, MD of eSIM MVNO Jola
Regaining control with eSIMs
If you’ve even heard of eSIMs, you might think it’s a new Apple initiative to fi x a SIM to an iPhone circuit board.
It is, but that’s not even half the story, and a long way from the real opportunity for the channel. Andrew
Dickinson, MD of eSIM MVNO Jola, explains
Comms Business Magazine
(CBM): What problem are
eSIMs solving?
Andrew Dickinson (AD):
eSIMs solve a number of
problems for businesses, and
therefore represent a signi cant
opportunity for resellers
looking for a magic mobile data
bullet to compete with a Mobile
Network Operator (MNO).
To illustrate I would point to
three typical use cases. ey are
real but to save me having to get
permissions let’s call them A, B
and C.
1. Lock-in. Company A has
25,000 SIMs in Europe. e
initial term of the contract has
expired and market rates have
halved, but the MNO will not
review the price. It will cost
Company A nearly £3m to
physically replace the SIMs.
2. Signal. Company B has
3000 PTT radios that can
be deployed anywhere in the
world. ey need to always use
the strongest signal but their
current multi-
network SIMs are steered and
hang on to the primary network
until the call is unintelligible.
3. Control. Once they have
activated the SIMs, Company
C is blind to their use and
often hit with barred SIMs and
overage charges.
An eSIM MVNO solves all
these problems with network
agnostic, un-steered or
steered, embedded or plastic
triple-cut SIMs. MVNOs
buy wholesale, from massive
mobile data aggregators (so
they’re very price competitive).
eir SIMs are invisible
to individual MNOs so,
unlike with consumer
eSIMs, MVNOs don’t need
permission from MNOs in
each country. You can probably
see why a SIM that can be
remotely re-programmed
over-the-air (OTA) is not an
exciting prospect to some
MNOs. MVNO eSIMs
roam automatically across
hundreds of global networks
and additional
pro les can easily be
added OTA to take
advantage of cheaper
local rates.
Where the
MVNO has a
self-serve portal,
resellers and their
customers have
complete control
over the networks
they connect to,
and data usage.
CBM: Does eSIM
help resellers win
IoT contracts?
AD: Multinet
roaming eSIMs
solve some, but
not all, of the
QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS
DOES THE ‘E’ IN ESIM MEAN EMBEDDED?
No. Or at least, not anymore. Nowadays it can refer to gold plated
metal soldered to a circuit board, or a piece of plastic. The important
distinction for an eSIM is you can switch between multiple profi les,
stored on the card, remotely.
IS MULTI-IMSI THE SAME AS ESIM?
No, but it is similar. A Multi-IMSI card is tied to one Mobile Network
Operator (MNO), who decides which other networks it can connect
to. So, if you fall out with the MNO you will have to switch out all your
SIMs. An eSIM is network agnostic and usually issued by an eSIM MVNO
(Mobile Virtual Network Operator).
WHAT IS EUICC?
UICC stands for Universal Integrated Circuit Card - the bit of plastic
itself. An eUICC has software not present on standard SIMs. This is how
it is able to support multiple profi les and OTA provisioning.
ARE ESIMS EXPENSIVE?
eUICC technology is more advanced than UICC so you may pay £2-£3
for the physical card. With an eSIM MVNO, usage is often cheaper,
especially for IoT/M2M.
problems for resellers wanting
to get into IoT. IoT is not the
future, it’s now. Resellers have
bid for many big IoT contracts,
but successes are rare. Why is
this?
1. ey are usually up against a
retail MNO who will often,
at the last minute, drop their
price below the resellers cost,
to win the business. It is very
hard for customers to switch
out SIMs and the MNO is
hoping to make money over
the entire term and beyond.
Also remember that for the
City, MNO’s subscriber
numbers and churn are key
metrics.
2. ey haven’t developed an
ecosystem. IoT is not just
the SIM. If the reseller
doesn’t have the capability
to o er gateways, sensors,
management platforms
and intelligent truck-roll,
they will struggle against a
supplier that has. My advice
would be to specialise in a
growth sector and partner for
things like portals, gateways
and sensors. I saw a very
impressive presentation from
Pinacl Solutions at a recent
IoT conference. I would
encourage readers to take a
look at their website.
eSIMs o er a real alternative
to MNO lock-in, that end
users already know they need.
Because they are multinetwork,
eSIMs also remove the
requirement for expensive pre-
Andrew Dickinson, MD of eSIM MVNO Jola order site surveys.
46 | Comms Business Magazine | February 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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