Telwel to sell Truphone eSim in Russia
Russian company Telwel has inked a deal with Truphone for the sale of eSims in Russia, reports Kommersant. The eSims will be used for roaming services. The option will let people purchase an eSIM from Truphone with only a mobile data traffic package, and no voice or SMS-bundles. Registration requires the name and email of the customer. If you want to find out new ways how to buy eSIM in Russia, read below.
ESIM registration only requires an email address and name. This is the first such service in Russia, Telwel says. With the help of virtual SIM cards, you can use the Internet abroad cheaper than regular roaming, the company assures. As part of the partnership, Telwel assumes marketing costs.
Truphone operates under the MVNO model with operators in more than 110 countries, including Russia. For eSIM sales, the company selects one partner in each country. The main shareholder of Truphone is Alexander Abramov, 23.3% of the shares are owned by Roman Abramovich.
In order to use the eSIM service, you need to have a special built-in chip on your smartphone. More than 20 models of Apple, Samsung and Huawei smartphones and about ten Apple tablets with eSIM support are available in Russia. According to the results in the first nine months of 2021, the penetration of smartphones with eSIM has doubled, to 17%. According to the press service of M.Video-Eldorado, this is about 3.6 million units with a total market volume of about 21.5 million.
Now Russian operators sell eSIM in stores only using a passport, and remotely only using the Unified Biometric System, using authorization through State Services or an enhanced qualified electronic signature, explained Alexandra Orekhovich, Director of Legal Initiatives at the Internet Initiatives Development Fund.
Telwel sells not minutes of conversation, but only Internet traffic, said Pavel Lavrenkov, a member of the Commission on Legal Support of the Digital Economy of the Moscow branch of the Russian Lawyers Association. According to him, the company does not violate the law, since in the rules for the provision of telematic communication services there is a clause about the possibility of identifying a subscriber using methods other than personal appearance with a document or through a public service portal. Mobile Research Group analyst Eldar Murtazin said.buy esim in russia
Experts do not expect mass demand for Telwel’s service in Russia at the moment. TelecomDaily CEO Denis Kuskov points out that phones with eSIM are not very common, in addition, those subscribers who want to use abroad and voice communications will be more profitable to buy a local SIM card or use the roaming services of their operator.
