Malaysia sees eSIM as a driver of the next phase of IoT growth

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Malaysia & eSIM: IoT growth

Highlights

78% of organizations surveyed by Beecham Research already use or plan to use eSIM for IoT, driven by the new GSMA SGP.32 standard.
Adopting SGP.32 and eSIM IoT Manager enables enterprises to switch network profiles remotely, reducing ownership costs and improving operational control.
Standardizing on a single eSIM configuration can lower annual holding costs by 20% to 30%, while also reducing the complexity of testing and hardware inventory.

This article was translated from the original. Read the original version by our correspondent here.

New standards support large-scale IoT deployments

As reported by The Edge Malaysia, eSIM adoption in IoT is gaining momentum, with 78% of enterprises surveyed by Beecham Research either already using eSIM for IoT or planning to do so. The trend comes as Malaysian telecom operators also trial industrial applications, including CelcomDigi's 5G-enabled smart warehouses and U Mobile's 5G-IoT logistics solutions.

For organizations, managing IoT deployments at enterprise scale involves hardware, software, connectivity, security and data across thousands of devices. In this context, older standards such as SGP.02 and SGP.22 have limited the use of eSIM in industrial settings because they were not designed for large-scale IoT environments.

The latest GSMA standard, SGP.32, is designed to address these limitations through remote SIM provisioning tailored to industrial IoT environments. As global and local mobile network operator ecosystems increasingly adopt SGP.32 alongside the eSIM IoT Manager framework, enterprises can switch network profiles remotely without physical SIM swaps or legacy protocol constraints, improving scalability and operational control while reducing total cost of ownership.

Operational impact on businesses in Malaysia and ASEAN

The importance of eSIM is becoming more apparent as connected technologies expand across manufacturing, logistics and critical infrastructure in Malaysia. For Malaysian organizations operating across ASEAN, the ability to activate local network profiles remotely helps reduce operational friction in markets with differing roaming regulations, spectrum availability and regulatory frameworks.

Unlike traditional SIM cards, which are typically tied to a single network and require physical replacement when connectivity needs change, eSIMs can store multiple network profiles that can be updated over the air. Beecham Research's survey found that managing multiple networks, remote device activation and ease of deployment are among the key drivers of adoption.

Operationally, unplanned connectivity disruptions in automated warehousing, smart manufacturing or fleet logistics continue to affect productivity and commercial performance. eSIM helps improve resilience by enabling organizations to switch networks remotely to improve connectivity availability, minimizing disruptions and reducing the need for site visits to update or replace SIM cards.

The economic case also extends to hardware logistics. Traditional approaches that require different SKUs for specific regional operators can increase annual holding costs by 20% to 30% and add complexity to device certification and testing. By standardizing on a single eSIM-enabled device configuration, companies can reduce inventory and activate local profiles only when a device is used at a given physical location.

In our previous coverage of ICT economic growth in Malaysia, we highlighted that the ICT and e-commerce industries contributed RM476.8 billion in 2025, equivalent to 23.5% of GDP. The article also highlighted the performance of ICT product trade, including rising exports and a persistently high trade surplus, as indicators of the country's strengthening digital ecosystem.

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