Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended a separate regulatory framework to permit the import and sale of foreign telecom operators’ SIM and eSIM cards in India for use in machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices that are meant for export, seeking to unlock the market potential for Indian exporters and importers operating in the segments.
TRAI has recommended for regulation to occur through a light-touch service authorisation under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, terming the new service as “International M2M SIM Service Authorisation”. The SIMs or eSIMs, TRAI added, should remain non-functional within India except for limited testing, ensuring that domestic telecom networks are not accessed.
Electronics manufacturers
Country’s electronics manufacturers shipping connected products abroad have argued that sourcing and embedding foreign connectivity modules overseas adds cost and complexity which results in weakening their global competitiveness.
Additionally, the regulator said the existing policy governing international roaming SIM cards is not designed for embedded connectivity used in export-oriented IoT products and imposes consumer-focused requirements such as individual KYC, tariff disclosure and grievance redressal that are impractical in a manufacturing-led, business-to-business context.
Basically, they meant that the current requirements are designed for B2C services and would not be relevant for M2M SIMs, because the end user is not known at the time of manufacturing and is often located outside India.
TRAI noted another reason of how IoT connectivity differs from consumer mobile services. While international roaming SIMs are used by individual travellers for short durations, M2M and IoT SIMs are embedded at the manufacturing stage and remain active throughout the lifecycle of the device in foreign markets.
TRAI’s statement
“Any company registered under the Indian Companies Act should be eligible to obtain the International M2M SIM Service Authorisation,” TRAI said in the release.
Industry bodies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry had earlier flagged the issue seeking the need for a dedicated policy framework to accommodate the needs of export-oriented IoT manufacturing in devices like meters, industrial sensors, automotive components and medical devices. TRAI’s stance has been towards enabling manufacturers to integrate foreign connectivity solutions domestically which would help the country move up the global IoT value chain while being cautious with national security considerations.
The move follows a reference from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which had sought for TRAI’s views on the matter.