London, Aug. 21, 2023: A new report from Kaleido Intelligence, a leading connectivity market intelligence and consulting firm, has found that over 1.4 billion eSIMs (including eUICC and iUICC form factors) will be shipped in 2028, growing at a CAGR of 21% between 2023 and 2028.
Operators Forced to Embrace eSIM
The research, eSIM Market Outlook & Opportunities 2023, highlighted how a fully end-to-end digital onboarding process for consumer devices is critical at scale. Today, many MNOs continue to rely on QR code mechanisms which do not offer an optimal end-user experience.
A critical factor behind the drive towards end-to-end digital onboarding will come from increased Entitlement Service uptake and Digital BSS modernisation: key to supporting and digitally enabling eSIM connectivity for disparate consumer devices. Market disruption, in the form of travel eSIM in addition to widespread enablement of the ability to transfer an eSIM from one device to another, will effectively result in competitive differentiation, forcing the market to take new shape.
As a result, operators will be forced to embrace eSIM: Kaleido anticipates that smartphone eSIM activations will grow on average by 77% between 2023 and 2028.