A niche UK MVNO finally joins the eSIM club!
If you hang around UK connectivity forums, 1p Mobile is one of those names that keeps popping up: tiny marketing budget, extremely simple pricing (1p per minute, 1p per text, 1p per MB on classic PAYG) and full EE coverage without the EE price tag.

The one big criticism for years? No eSIM.

That’s what now appears to be changing. Industry site ISPreview UK is reporting that 1p Mobile has started to deploy eSIM support, with users on its forum spotting a new “1pMobile eSIM has arrived!” thread and early activation reports. At the same time, 1p’s own SIM and FAQ pages still state that eSIM is “not yet” available but in development – a classic lag between engineering reality and website copy.

For Alertify readers, that mismatch is the story: this looks like a quiet soft-launch, not a big marketing moment, but it’s still a meaningful step for one of the UK’s most value-driven MVNOs.

From “not yet” to “eSIM has arrived”
The road here has been long and very public.

Back in March 2025, 1p Mobile told customers that development of eSIM support had been completed and that they were waiting on host network EE to issue eSIM profiles into their systems.  A follow-up, picked up by ISPreview UK and relayed via the UK Future Connectivity Forum, quoted 1p’s X account saying: “We should be able to start ordering eSIMs from the end of the month,” pointing to a launch window around late June 2025.

Alertify covered that hint at the time, noting that 1p was “eSIM-ready” internally but still dependent on EE’s wholesale plumbing. Meanwhile, official help pages on 1p’s site continued to say “we do not yet offer eSIMs, but we have development in progress to hopefully offer them in the next few months,” even as some users reported Apple’s “convert to eSIM” flow working on 1p Mobile.

Fast-forward to December 2025 and the pieces finally line up. ISPreview UK now talks about eSIM support being “spotted” in the wild, with forum users seeing live options and activating 1p profiles without any plastic involved. Wikipedia’s list of UK MVNOs has also been updated to show 1p Mobile as supporting eSIM, placing it in the same technical camp as a growing list of digital-ready operators.

Who actually benefits from 1p’s eSIM switch-on?

1p Mobile’s sweet spot is straightforward: low-friction, low-cost PAYG and yearly bundles on EE’s network, with EU roaming and 5G access included. That’s made it a favourite with three groups in particular:

• contract-averse users who just want something cheap and reliable
• older relatives who need a dependable number without bill shock
• travellers who want a UK line they can keep alive cheaply while using travel eSIMs abroad

For those segments, eSIM makes 1p noticeably easier to recommend.

You can keep 1p as a “parked” UK number on an eSIM for calls, texts and one-time passwords, while using the physical SIM slot for a heavy-data plan or a global travel eSIM. You don’t have to wait for Royal Mail to deliver a SIM when switching – useful if you’re only in the UK briefly or you’re setting up a phone remotely for someone else. And on modern dual-eSIM phones, 1p becomes a friction-free secondary line for marketplaces, side projects or any context where you don’t want to expose your primary number.

How 1p compares to the rest of the UK eSIM field

In the wider UK context, 1p isn’t blazing a trail; it’s removing an odd blind spot.

The big four – EE, O2, Vodafone and Three – have supported eSIM for years, especially on postpaid plans. On the MVNO side, independent comparison and testing sites like SIMSherpa now list a broad range of eSIM-capable players, including Lyca Mobile, giffgaff, Sky Mobile, SMARTY, Tesco Mobile, Talkmobile, spusu and others, and benchmark their activation journeys.  As recently as September 2025, the same guide was still calling out 1p Mobile as a notable hold-out on eSIM despite otherwise being one of the best-value options on the EE network.

The momentum isn’t only with classic mobile brands. Global eSIM-first providers like 1GLOBAL (formerly Truphone) and Ubigi have spent years building digital-only connectivity models based entirely on remote SIM provisioning. Fintech players like Revolut are using travel eSIMs as a wedge into full UK mobile operator status, blurring the line between banking app and connectivity provider.

Against that backdrop, a PAYG MVNO that wants to stay relevant can’t treat eSIM as an optional extra anymore. Seen through that lens, 1p’s move isn’t radical innovation; it’s hygiene. But it does sharpen its positioning: “the closest thing to being on EE, but cheap and contract-free” now comes without the plastic-SIM penalty.

Why this matters for travellers and dual-SIM nerds

For UK-based travellers, eSIM turns 1p into a cleaner “anchor” line. You can keep your 1p eSIM permanently active for calls, texts and banking OTPs, and then stack a dedicated travel eSIM for data on top when you head abroad. No more juggling SIM trays at the airport or hoping a tiny bit of plastic survives at the bottom of your backpack.

It also changes the equation for dual-SIM power users at home. If you want a “quiet” number for marketplaces, freelance work or online sign-ups, you can leave your main plan where it is and drop a 1p eSIM in as a low-maintenance secondary line that only costs money when you actually use it. In that sense, 1p’s old-school penny pricing suddenly becomes a very modern building block.

What to watch next

• How quickly 1p updates its public messaging and sign-up flows so eSIM is visible and default, not buried in support channels
• Whether eSIM is offered on equal terms to new and existing customers, including legacy PAYG accounts
• How smooth the activation journey is in practice (QR codes by email, in-app install, support for multiple devices)
• Whether 1p uses the flexibility of eSIM to test small travel-friendly or “extra line” bundles on top of its classic tariff
• If remaining eSIM hold-outs in the UK MVNO space follow suit rather than risk looking dated

A small move that says a lot about the market

On its own, 1p Mobile enabling eSIM won’t dominate any investor slide decks. Brands like Lyca, Lebara, giffgaff, SMARTY, Sky Mobile and spusu already tick that box, and global players have been pushing eSIM-first propositions for years.

But the fact that a lean, value-driven MVNO like 1p has finally crossed that line is a useful indicator of where the UK market now sits. eSIM is no longer a “nice-to-have” for flagships and early adopters; it’s becoming table stakes, even for the quiet, price-sensitive end of the industry.

Compared with peers, 1p is unlikely to compete on flashy apps or exotic roaming bundles. Its strength is pairing EE’s coverage and VoLTE / Wi-Fi calling with brutally simple economics. With eSIM in play, that simplicity extends to onboarding and multi-SIM setups: you can spin up a cheap, reliable UK line in minutes, park it on your phone alongside a travel eSIM, and forget about it until you need it.

For UK travellers, dual-SIM fans and anyone who likes the idea of a low-maintenance “side line”, 1p Mobile just moved from “great, but…” to “great, and finally modern”. And for the industry, it’s one more data point that if you’re selling mobile in 2025 and still don’t support eSIM, you’re not quirky anymore – you’re behind.