“IDEMIA’s 5G SIM card functionalities will ensure higher level subscriber privacy protection”

Spotlight on Identity Technologies | TelecomDrive.com

IDEMIA is a global enabler in identity technologies for international clients from the Financial, Telecom, Identity, Public Security and IoT sectors. With close to 15,000 employees around the world, IDEMIA serves clients in 180 countries.

With India fast embracing 5G era – our networks are delivering advanced features such as higher throughput, reduced latency, lower power consumption, in such a scenario - IDEMIA’s 5G SIM card functionalities will ensure higher level subscriber privacy protection in both consumer and IoT segments.

Rahul Tandon, SVP, Mobile Operator Business IDEMIA speaks with Zia Askari from TelecomDrive.com about the company’s business strategy and its future plans.

How are 5G SIM cards going to transform the subscriber ecosystem?

As 5G networks open-up advanced features like higher throughput, reduced latency, lower power consumption and increased coverage, IDEMIA’s 5G SIM card functionalities will ensure higher level subscriber privacy protection in both consumer and IoT segments. For consumers, enhanced mobile broadband will offer an improved experience in major public venues or smart homes. Connected vehicles, smart cities, healthcare and the metering of utilities, as well as critical communications used by fire, police and other emergency services, will all benefit from 5G high reliability. With the 5G SIM, mobile operators can ensure and control the end-to-end security and subscriber privacy protection from within this tamper-proof secure element to their core network. IDEMIA has partnered with over 500 Mobile Operators worldwide, and with factories across the globe, we are ready to support the rapid distribution of 5G SIM cards. We also offer a full range of 5G enabling solutions such as OTA Quality of Experience monitoring and security services for the IoT, including for critical and massive communication.

What is the IDEMIA Connectivity HUB (ICH)?

IDEMIA is working hard with device manufacturers towards the security implementation using an interoperability layer. This will secure the device without a major change in the device hardware. The IDEMIA Connectivity Hub (ICH) is capable to manage smart connectivity with device lifecycle management, by engaging device manufacturers in India, by securing their devices with inbuilt interoperability secure layer. The ICH is the first in India provide a secure platform to connect the device security helping device manufactures to test interoperability in the IDEMIA Device test lab.

What is your outlook on the Indian IoT/M2M industry today?

The IoT/M2M industry is highly fragmented with a large number of use cases belonging to critical connected infrastructure, automotive, health energy and other business segments. The need is for vendors to come together to create device standardization, secure integration and deployment. Besides overcoming the challenge of fragmented markets, the IoT/M2M technologies must ensure security. There’s a need to create robust devices, secure connectivity and networks for various industry verticals by implementing connected solutions, including utilities, connected vehicles, agriculture, healthcare, transportation, and security for businesses and homes. Security challenges are a major concern largely for networks, devices, connectivity and applications. The industry must address these challenges to usher in a truly connected, automated era.

How are the e-sims which are used in automobiles different from that used in a phone?

The e-sim used in automobiles and phone are different.  The Broad level Differentiator between consumer and automotive M2M SIMs are:

Machine-to-Machine (M2M) SIMs are more robust compared to smartphone SIMs, having higher resistance and temperature range of -40°C and +105°C.

M2M SIMs generally also have a longer life-span (around 10-15 years), higher endurance to ensure harmony with a device’s lifecycle.

In M2M SIMs environmental factors such as humidity, vibration-tolerance, acceleration shocks, etc. had become more relevant in their tolerance level needs. For Automotive, M2M SIM quality is further enhanced to comply with standards (such as PPAP, AEC-Q100) and larger data retention span (15-17 years).

From Solution Architecture & design perspectives, also they differ as for consumer eSIM (Phone/ Tablet etc.) the MNO Profiles are pulled, whereas in M2M case, the profiles are pushed through GSMA standardized secure routing architecture.

What is your outlook for 2023 as India with the 5G rollout happening in India?

As India ushers in 5G connectivity, it opens up many new capabilities to enhance productivity and safety of not only online transactions but Machine2Machine (M2M) transactions as well. The network technologies 5G, 5Gi, 4G and under Low power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) such as Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT), LTE-M, Long Range Radio (LoRa), ZigBee and SigFox are creating new business opportunities around these technologies. Indeed, the magical combination of these technologies will change the contours for connectivity, security and analytics. However, we also believe it is time for the industry to define the scope of connected technology with respect to its security for all aspects, such as devices, connectivity, secure deployment and their physical security.

This interview is published in the January 2023 edition of Disruptive Telecoms.