Recently, a netizen left a message on the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology asking whether China has a plan to promote eSIM cell phone cards, as the use of eSIM cards has recently caused more discussion. In response, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology replied on September 15, “The Ministry attaches great importance to the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and insists on actively promoting the application and promotion of new technologies and equipment on the basis of ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of users and information security.
At present, the Ministry is organizing relevant units to study and promote the application of eSIM technology on tablet computers, portable computers and smartphone devices, and expand the application of eSIM technology when the conditions are mature.”
The full name of eSIM is Embedded-SIM, i.e. embedded SIM card. Unlike the traditional pluggable SIM card, eSIM is directly embedded into the device chip and is not added to the device as a separate removable part, i.e. no need to insert the physical SIM card again.
China Electronics News reported in August 2020 that, as one of the important manifestations of the IoT era, the small and flexible eSIM provides a new way to connect wearable devices and connected cars, which can promote the large-scale implementation of IoT applications and help connect everything. eSIM enables users to choose operator packages more flexibly and change operators at any time without unlocking devices and buying new ones. operator.
As of October 2020, the three major carriers, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, have all received approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to carry out eSIM technology application services in the IoT field.
From the approval document, the three major operators to carry out eSIM technology application services in IoT and other fields are limited to opening data services and related directional voice and directional SMS services; only 13-digit IoT numbers can be used to carry out eSIM technology application services in IoT and other fields; eSIM technology application services in IoT and other fields can only be handled in their own channels, and cooperation with resale enterprises to provide related services must be Separate application is required to provide relevant services in cooperation with resale enterprises.
In the “14th Five-Year Plan” issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology at the end of 2021, it is mentioned that “promoting the application of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, edge computing, embedded SIM card (eSIM), advanced computing and quantum computing, deepening the application of new technologies and new services in vertical industries and fields. The plan also mentions “promoting the application of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, edge computing, embedded SIM card (eSIM), advanced computing and quantum computing, and deepening the expansion of new technologies and services in vertical industries and fields.
