The full report, in partnership with Mobile World Live, evidences the explosion of eSIM technology in the recent past: almost half (48%) of manufacturers and two thirds (66%) of operators now offer eSIM services, with 75% of both these groups having added the capability within the past two years. This trend is set to accelerate: 80% of manufacturers and 90% of operators say they will offer eSIM by 2025.

The research also reveals that not only is eSIM predicted to be widespread; it is also expected to penetrate deep into the service models of many industry players. Two thirds of device manufacturers believe that over 40% of their total devices will be connected via eSIM in 2025. A further 19% responded that they see almost their entire product portfolio (80-100%) connected via eSIM by that time.

Supply vs demand

While a number of operators predict similar levels of adoption in their own business, it is clear that many plan to run a hybrid SIM/eSIM model for the near future: less than a third those surveyed believe that eSIM will account for more than 40% of their total connections by 2025. This presents a worrying disparity between those devices that will require an eSIM connection on the one hand and the eSIMs actually available from operators on the other—demonstrating an upcoming tension between soaring demand and inadequate supply.

The data shows that many key players in the industry believe that adoption is being slowed by a variety of barriers including difficult set up, extended time to market, cost and poor availability. The latter is the most prevalent, with 53% of device manufacturers pointing to a lack of adequate supply of eSIM technology as one of the main reasons eSIM adoption is not faster or more widespread.

Further, 66% believe operators are to blame for holding back eSIM adoption overall.

However, this may be misleading. The data also reveals a lack of availability further up the supply chain: operators too cite availability as a key barrier to implementing the technology, with 48% claiming it as a challenge; second only to cost.

This points to a problem not with operators but with their suppliers— likely their SIM manufacturers who now must juggle the production of traditional plastic SIMs with the provision of eSIMs.

New players have emerged to tackle this bottleneck, built for eSIM-first delivery. These younger, nimbler providers seek also to eliminate another important barrier to adoption: 47% of operators report that it simply takes too long to implement the eSIM model.  esim cards