Truphone, a UK-based GSMA global mobile network operator, has called for the “abolishment of SIM cards forever” and aims to make that goal a reality by replacing all traditional physical SIM cards with eSIMs through its Freedom for Free offering. The offering isn’t aimed at consumers, as it’s instead looking to expand the reach of eSIMs to traditional SIM card chip manufacturers and device makers by providing Truphone’s eSIM technology for free.
With the Freedom for Free offering, the company hopes to drastically reduce the number of physical SIM cards made, saving manufacturers from production costs while also contributing to the reduction of plastic waste. A staggering 4.6 billion physical SIM cards were produced in 2020, according to a Truphone press release, so the company certainly has its work cut out for it.
The steadily rising popularity of eSIMs, paired with the company’s new initiative, makes its goals of replacing legacy SIMs with eSIMs a feasible one in the future. That is, if manufacturers see the appeal of the technology.
Truphone sites the “perceived cost and complexity of eSIM adoption” as something holding the technology back in the eyes of the industry. However, by giving manufacturers its eSIM software for free, the company is looking to bypass that issue entirely. In a briefing with Digital Trends earlier this week, Truphone CTO Michael Moorfield called the traditional SIM card a “dying technology,” but with Freedom for Free, it seems as if Truphone wants to be the final nail in the coffin.
Currently, the general awareness of the technology that eSIM cards offer is relatively low, a fact Moorfield admitted during the briefing. But by getting more mobile manufacturers on board with the technology, Truphone hopes that eSIMs will be a bigger part of new devices’ marketing.
Since 2018, eSIMs have been a built-in feature for many devices made by major tech manufacturers, such as Apple, Sony, and Murata, but bringing the technology to the forefront of the conversation and replacing physical SIMs in that space could help Truphone’s efforts to establish eSIMs as the future of mobile devices.
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