TRAI issues recommendations to streamline M2M eSIM sector

New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday released recommendations aimed at streamlining the regulatory landscape of machine-to-machine (M2M) embedded SIM (eSIM) in India.

With the rolling out of 5G services in the country, the opportunities for the M2M ecosystem have expanded greatly, offering increased scope for applications in various sectors of the economy such as agriculture, transportation, healthcare and industrial automation.

Through these recommendations, the TRAI has laid emphasis on ensuring security by way of proper know your customer (KYC), which is essential for ensuring network security, mitigating fraud risks and enhancing the overall integrity of the M2M eSIM ecosystem.

The Authority also recommended a framework for profile switching of eSIMs and swapping of SM-SR. This will provide significant flexibility to the M2M eSIM users and will promote healthy competition in the sector.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had earlier sought TRAI's recommendations under the TRAI Act, 1997 on the usage of embedded SIM for M2M communications.

The TRAI said that implementation of these recommendations by the government will promote orderly growth in the M2M eSIM segment of the telecom sector in India and will stimulate the development of a homegrown M2M eSIM ecosystem in the country.

Among the key features, all communication profiles on any M2M eSIM fitted in an imported device on international roaming in India should be mandatorily converted/reconfigured into communication profiles of Indian telecom service providers (TSPs) within a period of six months from the date of activation of international roaming on such M2M eSIM or on change of ownership of the device, whichever is earlier.

For installation of profiles of Indian telecom service providers (TSPs) on M2M eSIMs fitted in the devices imported in India, the concerned original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and M2MSP should be given the flexibility to choose between various profiles.

"Keeping in view the challenges in its implementation, the use of 901.XX IMSI series allocated by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to Indian entities should not be permitted for providing M2M services in India, at this stage," said the TRAI.