Anyone associated with cellular-based IoT connectivity cannot help but have noted the extensive discussions for the last couple of years about the arrival of the SGP.32 ‘IoT’ remote SIM provisioning standard, improving on the former SGP.02 ‘M2M’ and SGP.22 ‘Consumer’ variants. With the final finishing touches being put to the certification aspects, the standard is now effectively with us. In this blog post we explore some of the key implications of the arrival of SGP.32 on the commercial landscape for cellular connectivity for IoT.
Note: I won’t be going into detail on the technology or the upgrade compared to SGP.02 and SGP.22. If you want a brief primer on the technology, check out my blog post from last year ‘SGP.32: what do enterprises need to know?’. Or, even better, subscribe to Transforma Insights’ Advisory Service and you can get access to all the gritty detail.
Every year Transforma Insights publishes its IoT ‘Transition Topics’, key themes that we think will shape the IoT landscape during the year. In the 2025 iteration (see press release ‘Transforma Insights announces IoT Transition Topics for 2025’) one of the topics was on the subject of ‘eSIM orchestration vs connectivity reseller’
We noted: “The imminent arrival of the SGP.32 ‘IoT’ standard for remote SIM provisioning in 2025 promises to trigger a new phase in the provision of IoT connectivity and in the associated roles. Specifically, we expect to see the role of IoT connectivity provider (MNO/MVNO) fragment into three main roles: network operator, reseller and a new role of eSIM orchestrator, handling profile management and potentially integrating with a role of single-pane-of-glass (SPOG) connectivity abstraction platform. We will consider the implications for the market structure and competitive dynamics for IoT connectivity providers and their customers.”
And this topic of the impact of SGP.32 arrival has loomed large over the market for cellular-based IoT connectivity this year.
Transforma Insights is currently in the process of compiling the 2025 edition of its Communications Service Provider IoT Peer Benchmarking (details of the 2024 version can be found here: ‘Transforma Insights identifies the key themes and market leaders in IoT connectivity’), our analysis of the capabilities and strategies of 25+ of the world’s leading cellular-based IoT connectivity providers (or MNOs/MVNOs to put it another way). The fact that we get such extensive exposure to the senior management at all of those connectivity providers means that we are able to ‘take the pulse’ of the industry, assessing the key themes. And SGP.32 is certainly a key theme.
One provider mentioned to us that it was working on a 1m+ connections customer that wanted to make use of SGP.32 to switch operators due to dissatisfaction with quality of service. That kind of opportunity certainly focuses the attention. And what becomes clear is that SGP.32 could well be used to punish companies that aren’t delivering a good enough service. It’s time to tighten up your SLAs and beef up the resilience of your connectivity.
We should also note, however, that there is a bit of a counter-balance to the SGP.32 story. Many of the connectivity providers hold the view (correctly) that it will be just one of a set of technologies used to address the market. It is not, itself, a magic wand. It’s a very powerful tool but there is more to providing connectivity than just enabling the hopping around between eSIM profiles. SGP.32 is just a tool. It’s what you wrap around it that’s important.
The role of eSIM Orchestrator is a new one created by SGP.32. It involves the management of the remote SIM provisioning process (i.e. the SM-SR, SM-DP+ and eIM). It incorporates many of the functions that we might have considered to be part of the MVNO role but is separate from the role of connectivity reseller. It incorporates models where the commercial relationship for connectivity is direct between the enterprise and the network operator, but the eSIM orchestrator handles the profile management, switching between different operators as required by the customer. It manages profile selection, switching logic and policy management. It will often be performed as part of a ‘connectivity platform’ role which incorporates some or all of the role of CMP, connectivity abstraction and/or SPOG.
What is critical to note is that the emergence of the role masks the complexity of performing it well. In our recent Position Paper ‘eSIM Orchestration: Driving the Next Wave of IoT Connectivity’ we identified ten key functions that an eSIM orchestrator ought to be performing, of which the basic profile management is only one.
One of the most interesting aspects of the arrival of SGP.32 is that it as a driver of a shake up of the middleware platform landscape. It does this in a few ways. Firstly it introduces the new eSIM Orchestrator role, which is effectively a connectivity platform play predicated on handling switching eSIM profiles. No need for a core network and no need for wholesale agreements. And some MVNOs are embracing this role. But, we should note, it’s only a part of the landscape.
The second part is the increasing importance of the single-pane-of-glass (SPOG) platform, providing an abstraction layer above the Connectivity Management Platform, or more relevantly above multiple CMPs run by different companies. If customers are going to use connections localised onto different networks, then there’s a need for an SPOG to manage across all of them.
Finally, we’re also seeing interesting trends for partnerships. For instance, in March 2025 AT&T announced its Global SIM Advanced proposition, supported by Eseye using its Integra platform. This allows customers to leverage multiple profiles that can be loaded on the multi-IMS eSIM, featuring an AT&T profile together with non-AT&T profile(s) as appropriate for the custom use case.
These themes related to platforms and partnerships will also feature in the CSP IoT Peer Benchmarking analysis.
If you would like to know more about eSIM, remote SIM provisioning, SGP.32, and the role of the eSIM Orchestrator, we will be exploring all of these topics in detail in a forthcoming free Virtual Briefing: ‘The rise of the eSIM Orchestrator in an SGP.32 world’. In the session we, together with Eseye, will explore the changing market dynamics driven by SGP.32 and the implications for enterprise adopters and the ecosystem.
