Telcos could tap tech to eSIM-plify business

Annabeth Leow

Published Tue, Jul 28, 2020 · 09:50 PM

PHYSICAL barriers enforced by the novel coronavirus pandemic have choked off some streams of income for telcos, such as mobile roaming.

But, unlike hotels, restaurants and other hapless bricks-and-mortar players, Singapore telcos can still tap the tech advantage of a borderless world.

One such opportunity comes from the growing prevalence of embedded SIM (eSIM) cards. These eSIMs can be configured digitally, doing away with the need to manually replace SIM cards to switch network connections.

eSIMs are not brand-new to the market. They largely power consumer smart devices - although M1, the telco unit of Keppel Corp, also offers eSIMs as an alternative to physical SIMs at no extra charge and on req…