Most connectivity service providers (CSPs) cannot rely on roaming SIMs, according to a survey by FloLive and analyst firm Kaleido Intelligence.

CSPs do not believe a roaming SIM can meet the complex demands of users’ connectivity requirements.

FloLive has created a global cellular infrastructure and provides global connectivity and network services for IoT.

The overwhelming majority of respondents in the survey explicitly stated that a roaming SIM was an unreliable approach to global connectivity.

The survey gauged the state of IoT connectivity as told through the lens of the respondents, both mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and IoT service providers (IoT SPs) who deliver connectivity to OEMs and enterprises worldwide. Out of the respondents, 95 per cent believe a roaming SIM is inadequate for global connectivity, with 86 per cent stating that roaming SIM performance does not meet more complex requirements, mainly those related to performance and privacy regulations.

Achieving worldwide connectivity has historically been a significant challenge in IoT. Originally designed for consumer connectivity, roaming allows devices to connect to local networks outside the home network for short periods, typically 30 to 90 days. Permanent roaming through roaming SIMs was a widespread approach in recent years that allowed foreign devices to connect permanently to local networks for longer.

Rising roaming restrictions have removed roaming SIMs as an option entirely in numerous regulated countries. Performance can be poor due to roaming connectivity’s unreliability. The latency of communicating between home and local networks can be too great for many mission-critical IoT communications.

Alternates have emerged to allow global connectivity to be achieved from a local approach, which eliminates performance and regulatory bottlenecks associated with roaming SIMs.

Both multi-IMSI and eUICC technologies empower SIM cards with the ability to store different profiles and be provisioned remotely over the air (OTA). This allows devices to be deployed from one region yet connect to another or allows moving devices to connect to provisioned networks along routes, such as in fleet or logistics applications.

Well over half of the respondents (64 per cent) said they believed multi-IMSI and/or eUICC were more reliable approaches to global connectivity.

“Global connectivity has long been a challenge for IoT,” said FloLive CEO Nir Shalom. “FloLive is excited to stand at the forefront of robust and reliable connectivity that can be delivered both through multi-IMSI and eUICC powered through local networks hosted on our flexible, resilient core infrastructure.”

The shift in global connectivity approaches through options designed for IoT can help usher in greater adoption of this technology segment.

“IoT has been anticipating a closure in this gap of how global connectivity is delivered,” said Steffen Sorrell, Kaleido Intelligence chief of research. “The survey results indicate that the major players in this industry are seeing that the traditional approach to worldwide connectivity simply is not working anymore. Their customer requirements are too complex and too crucial to rely on an approach that was never meant to be long-term.”

The report is called “Navigating the Challenges and Opportunity of Shifting IoT Connectivity Demands” and can be downloaded at: go.flolive.net/kaleido-intelligence-report-adapting-to-a-shifting-iot-connectivity-landscape.

To hear more directly from Shalom and Sorrell, register for the webinar “IoT Connectivity in 2024” to discuss the survey results on February 14 at 10am ET, 3pm GMT at kaleidointelligence.com/iot-service-providers-2024.