Pakistan is planning to start local production of SIM and smart cards to protect the country from the threat of cyber attacks, create employment opportunities and save valuable foreign exchange.
Official documents, available with ProPakistani, revealed that local physical SIM manufacturers may set up eSIM management platforms and offer eSIM products to mobile operators (CMOs) through ‘Platform as a Service’.
Digital transformation and creation of an enabling ecosystem is one of the key objectives of the Government of Pakistan and in the era of digital services, SIMs and smart cards are becoming crucial. Local SIM manufacturing will massively benefit the economy as millions of SIMs are currently being imported.
According to the documents, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) fully supports the necessary role of performing authorization, compliance and adoption of SIM card manufacturing in the telecom sector.
The local SIM and smart card manufacturing industry has already become the main sector in many national economies and plays an important role in creating sustainable economic development.
If analyzed from a business perspective, it will stimulate the economy by creating employment opportunities, generating tax revenue and saving valuable foreign exchange. In addition, it will add another practical dimension for academia in relation to research and development.
With the evolution of SIM technology, manufacturers around the world have come up with new SIM variants such as Embedded SIM (eSIM), Soft SIM and Embedded SIM (iSIM) among others. All these variants are worthy substitutes for a physical SIM card. Therefore, local physical SIM manufacturers can build eSIM management platforms and offer eSIM products in CMOS.