Telecommunications regulators in the Netherlands just recently legalized network-agnostic SIM cards, making the Netherlands the first to ever have such. It’s kind of a big deal because network-agnostic SIM cards are still illegal the world over.
Network-agnostic SIMs are not tied to any particular network and can be reprogrammed to switch networks as often as desired. The major applications of such freedom will be in the internet of things (appliances that connect to the internet) and mobile service. As regards the later, users will have the freedom to choose, and switch between, any network at their whim.
Seems like something that could probably work best in Nigeria, where constantly fluctuating quality of service has forced nearly everyone to have multiple SIMs, from multiple networks. The 2 main advantages such a development could hold for us are: the ability to switch preferred network without actually changing SIMs and – assuming the technology is accepted universally – no more roaming charges. Say you traveled abroad, rather than roaming, you’d actually be able to switch to a home network.
“Networkless” SIMS seem all nice in ideal circumstances but in a country like ours, it will probably end up like Mobile Number Portability, which no one is really utilizing. I don’t see telcos co-operating to make network-agnostic SIMs work. How often and instantly would users be able to switch network? If I had active data plans one a particular network and switched out, would I have my data balance intact for when I switched back?
There’s also the concern of how to track users appropraitely. Users who wish to use network-agnostic SIMs would probably have to pre-register virtual numbers on each network they need to use. This would ensure that when they switch, they can still be tied to the central NCC database. I imagine it would be very risky business, especially security wise and the possible corruption of data. It’s no wonder network-agnostic SIMs are illegal worldwide, they’re like the governments worst nightmare. We can only wait and see if they can pull it off in the Netherlands. Then other countries might just follow suit.
Source: Overheid.nl (translated) via Gigaom
[image via Flickr/Andreh Lih]
