eSim a potential change agent for Singapore telcos

It is expected to be launched next year.

eSIM is a potential boon for new entrants in Singapore, said DBS Group Research.

"With its ability to negate the advantages of physical distribution, eSIMs could provide support to the potential new mobile entrant in Singapore," it said in a research note.

Furthermore, it explains that the ease of switching networks would further pressurise roaming revenues of incumbents in Singapore.

Here's more from DBS Group Research:

SIM (subscriber identity module) identifies and authenticates an individual customer's device. eSIM or an embedded SIM refers to a SIM card integrated to a handset or device instead of a physically separate SIM card.

With eSIMs, subscribers need not visit the carrier as they can activate the mobile service remotely. In February 2016, Samsung unveiled Samsung Gear S2 while Apple's iPad Pro 9.7”, announced in March 2016, was one of the first non-wearable eSIM devices. In Southeast Asia,

Singapore has trialled the use of eSIMs and we expect eSIM- enabled smartphones to be launched in 2017. eSIMs will enable telcos to connect to newer devices in the Internet of things (IoT) era but will also increase churn rate due to the ease of switching mobile carriers.