The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper seeking stakeholder views on the use and sale of foreign telecom service providers’ SIMs and eSIMs in India, specifically for integration into machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices that are meant for export.
The consultation paper explores whether a new service authorisation should be introduced under the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) policy framework to allow the sale of foreign SIMs/eSIMs in India. The paper also seeks to identify any regulatory issues that may arise—such as those involving the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Customs, or other authorities—with respect to the export of Indian telecom service providers’ M2M SIMs/eSIMs, especially in scenarios involving import of such devices using Indian SIMs abroad.
TRAI has invited inputs on various aspects of the proposed framework, including the terms and conditions for such a service, eligibility criteria, applicable fees, and the validity period for the use of these foreign SIMs/eSIMs in M2M and IoT applications.
The response of TRAI came after certain Indian manufacturers who export IoT/M2M devices to international markets have requested that foreign SIMs be made available to them in India for integration into their products prior to export. This would enable the devices to operate on foreign networks immediately upon deployment abroad. In response, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has received multiple requests seeking provisions under its No Objection Certificate (NOC) policy to permit the sale of foreign operators’ SIMs/eSIMs in India for such specific use cases.