As the Internet of Things (IoT) evolves toward tens of billions of connections, the deployment of devices such as water meters, electricity meters, asset trackers, and overseas Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) has consistently faced a critical pain point: how to achieve more flexible and cost-effective carrier switching and remote connection management without screens or human interaction.
In the past, the market continuously explored options between traditional plug-and-pull cards and early remote provisioning solutions, yet it remained constrained in large-scale deployment, unified operations and maintenance (O&M), and cross-regional management. In 2026, as the GSMA SGP.32 IoT eSIM standard gradually enters the commercial adoption phase, STMicroelectronics leverages its end-to-end secure hardware and OS integration capabilities to provide the industry with a standardized, mass-executable remote connection management solution, driving IoT connectivity toward a more automated and scalable management stage.
Three Generations of eSIM Specification Evolution
Reviewing the evolution history of SIM cards, from the massive 1FF in 1991 to the 4FF (Nano SIM) in 2012, they essentially never broke away from the physical limitation of "one card bound to one carrier." To solve the problem of remote number changing, the GSMA has successively launched three generations of standards, and the latest SGP.32 is the game-changer that integrates the advantages of the previous two.
Figure | GSMA eSIM specifications; Source: STMicroelectronics
- First Generation: eSIM for M2M (SGP.02, 2013)
SGP.02 is an earlier generation of remote eSIM provisioning specification for M2M scenarios, initially mainly serving large-scale, low-interaction, and unattended IoT devices. Its characteristic is the adoption of a platform-driven remote provisioning model, completing the preparation, distribution, and management of subscription information through components such as SM-SR and SM-DP.
However, SGP.02 has certain limitations in architectural flexibility, cross-vendor interoperability, and adaptation to new IoT scenarios, and its deployment and integration costs are relatively high.
- Second Generation: eSIM for Consumer (SGP.22, 2016)
SGP.22 is primarily aimed at consumer electronics terminals with user interaction interfaces, such as smartphones and smartwatches, adopting a device-initiated remote provisioning model. Users typically download profiles from the SM-DP+ server by scanning QR codes or operating the terminal interface.
This solution significantly improves usability in consumer electronics scenarios, but it is more suitable for single-device, single-user interactive applications and is not inherently suitable for large-scale, unattended IoT deployments.
- Third Generation: eSIM for IoT (SGP.32, launched in 2023)
SGP.32 is designed for IoT scenarios. Building on the advantages of mature architectures, it further enhances support for screenless devices and mass deployment scenarios. It retains mature components such as SM-DP+, while introducing IPA and eIM management mechanisms for IoT terminals, thereby improving capabilities in remote provisioning, lifecycle management, and cross-vendor collaboration.
Compared with the first two generations, SGP.32 is more suitable for large-scale IoT deployments, helping to reduce O&M complexity and mitigate the shortcomings of early M2M solutions in interoperability and ecosystem collaboration.
Wang Pengfei, Product Marketing Manager at STMicroelectronics, believes that as SGP.32 gradually matures, the application space for M2M specifications will further shrink, but it will still exist for a long time in specific legacy scenarios. In the near future, SGP.22 and SGP.32 will also present a pattern of parallel development.
Cloud Management Closed Loop of eIM and IPA
In actual commercial deployments, the IoT eSIM solution compliant with the GSMA SGP.32 standard (taking ST4SIM-300 as an example) is tailor-made for unattended, GUI-less industrial-grade devices. Relying on Remote SIM Provisioning (RSP) capabilities, it dynamically manages carrier profiles via Over-The-Air (OTA) technology, enabling screenless terminals to complete remote provisioning and network switching without relying on manual intervention.
Figure | Wang Pengfei, Product Marketing Manager at STMicroelectronics, introducing the ST4SIM-300 demo; Source: Filmed by eefocus
Wang Pengfei pointed out that the underlying support for this efficient mechanism stems from the collaborative work of core components on both the cloud and device sides.
Specifically, O&M personnel can perform centralized operations through the cloud management platform eIM. The system can initiate remote provisioning requests to terminals according to business processes, and complete the download and activation management of subscription files. At this time, the IPA running on the device side is responsible for collaborating with the cloud platform and related backend services to complete the acquisition, verification, and activation of profiles, thereby supporting remote management and network switching for mass devices.
Figure | eSIM ecosystem based on ST4SIM-300, including eIM and IPA; Source: STMicroelectronics
Regarding the risks of provisioning failures or network interruptions in unattended scenarios, SGP.32 also introduces more robust fault tolerance and fallback mechanisms. During the process of downloading a new profile, if the process is interrupted due to network anomalies or activation failures, the system can automatically fall back to the last available profile or restore to the basic boot profile, thereby reducing the risk of device disconnection.
Wang Pengfei stated that this mechanism can ensure that devices always possess basic networking capabilities, reducing the need for O&M personnel to be physically present on-site to disassemble and handle the devices, significantly improving the reliability of remote deployment and long-term O&M for IoT devices.
Conclusion
Although the GSMA SGP.32 standard is advancing rapidly in overseas markets with urgent application demands, in the domestic market, affected by compliance requirements such as telecom security management and anti-fraud, related solutions place more emphasis on adapting to local regulatory requirements.
Against the backdrop of differences in standards and compliance environments, being based in the domestic market while targeting overseas market deployment is gradually becoming an important path for IoT companies to carry out technical practices and commercial implementation. As the ecosystem compatibility debugging of SGP.32 is gradually perfected, such hardware-independent and standardized eSIM solutions will help companies going global simplify the docking process with multiple overseas carriers, and further reduce cross-border deployment and subsequent O&M costs.