This week it was decided that the design of the NanoSIM to be the one that Apple designed, and probably at the end of the year we will see the first mobile phones equipped with this technology. Although there were heated debates regarding the choice of NanoSIM design, at ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, the abandonment of SIM cards is already being discussed. How will future mobile phones work? Well, they will connect to mobile networks with the help of the eUICC, Embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card.
Work on Machine-to-Machine (M2M) applications has given rise to the possibility of having a UICC that is embedded in a communication device in such a way that the UICC is not easily accessible or replaceable. The ability to change network subscriptions on such devices becomes problematic, thus necessitating new methods for securely and remotely provisioning access credentials on these Embedded UICCs (eUICC) and managing subscription changes from one MNO to another.
Although the NanoSIM design was discussed and chosen, now mobile phone operators are already thinking about the technology of the future. These eUICCs are basically circuits that will be installed in mobile phones instead of SIM cards and the choice of an operator or a subscription will be made in the future directly from the terminals. At the moment the operators are thinking about the system based on which the phones will be coded or the networks will be changed, the discussions being advanced, and the final result should be found in mobile phones in a few years.
Apple has wanted to give up SIM cards for a long time, so far it has not had the opportunity, but the European bodies are taking the first steps towards fulfilling the "wish" of the company from Cupertino. Mobile phones without SIM cards will be more difficult to decode, but they eliminate the need to purchase such cards, allowing users to use their terminals in any network by simply changing the operator from an operating system menu. I can't wait to see this technology available in mobile phones, but I think it will be a few good years until then.
