Thales, G+D, and IDEMIA named ‘pacesetters’ in Global eSIM provisioning study

Thales, G+D and IDEMIA have emerged as ‘Pacesetters’ in Counterpoint Research’s Global eSIM Provisioning CORE (COmpetitive, Ranking, and Evaluation) study, according to the 2023 edition of Global eSIM Landscape report.

Commenting on the eSIM provisioning rankings and competitive landscape, Senior Research Analyst Ankit Malhotra said, “eSIM has grown tremendously in 2023 with higher operator uptake. Now, eSIM support is available in over 100 countries, with exponential growth seen in eSIM transactions despite Apple not launching an eSIM-only model in Europe. As a result, new players continue to enter the market to meet the growing demand for eSIM provisioning. The consumer eSIM market showed significant buoyancy in 2023 though the IoT market remained subdued. With the introduction of new GSMA specifications for IoT eSIM (SGP.31/32), the IoT market is expected to grow as some of the customers are waiting for standardized products based on the new specifications.”

Malhotra added, “We have analyzed and evaluated key companies in the eSIM value chain using our proprietary CORE framework, which maps active players according to their capabilities and success in the ecosystem. In this dynamic market environment, our evaluation criteria have also changed. We have added multiple new criteria, such as platform reliability and SGP.31/32 readiness. The capabilities cover topics such as platform features, compliance, deployment model, time to market and profile customization abilities. The ecosystem part covers criteria such as geographical reach, partnerships, platform deployments and transactions.”

Commenting on the research findings, Associate Director Mohit Agarwal said, “Thales, G+D and IDEMIA emerged as pacesetters in Counterpoint’s rankings for eSIM provisioning. These three companies stand out from the rest of the market and demonstrate excellence in both capability and ecosystem parameters. On the capability side, Thales emerged as the best player with a very comprehensive all-round platform, which is why it was able to deploy the maximum number of eSIM platforms worldwide. On the ecosystem side, G+D emerged as the best player due to a higher number of transactions.”

Oasis, WORKZ, 1Global, Valid, Kigen and RedTea Mobile have emerged as the eSIM provisioning market ‘Leaders’. All these players made great strides in 2023 to further their reach in the ecosystem. VALID, Oasis Smart SIM and WORKZ showed the highest growth in terms of overall platform deployments. Kigen showed the highest overall growth in the ecosystem parameters. RedTea Mobile stood out, showing maximum improvement overall in this year’s evaluation.

Eastcompeace, 10T Tech, Nordic, Nokia, Teal, Invigo and 1oT have emerged as ‘Challengers’ with very capable platforms but still do not have the required market presence. In this quadrant, Eastcompeace and 10T Tech stand out. TEAL and 1oT, one of the newer entrants, showed good promise with their focused IoT approach. Agarwal said, “Over time, players in the Challenger category are likely to move up to the Leaders quadrant.”

A number of players made it to the ‘Niche’ category due to their business models, which are different from other players in terms of either catering to a niche segment or due to limited geographical presence. For example, achelos and HPE have different business models where they do not provide provisioning services themselves but enable the services for other players.

Counterpoint Research’s Global eSIM Landscape report is the most comprehensive report involving all the leading players in the eSIM ecosystem with multiple interviews and research spanning more than three months. Counterpoint Research