The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) has written to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) regarding the compatibility of using e-SIM in smartphones.
The move by ICEA comes in the backdrop of a proposal placed by the Cellular Operators Association of India before the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to mandate handset manufacturers to introduce e-SIMs, in addition to the physical SIM slot, in all smartphones costing over Rs 10,000.
The ICEA argues that implementing e-SIMs in mobiles would entail product design change as well as cost escalation, owing to the extra hardware. ICEA believes that the move would invariably increase the cost of mid-level handsets ranging from Rs 10,000 – 20,000, which comprises of approximately 50 per cent of the total smartphone volume in the country.
Contradicting the idea to introduce e-SIM in smartphones, ICEA asserted that if the cost of the SIM increases five times, still in comparison, the cost of introduction of the e-SIM feature in mobile phones will be very high in terms of its implementation and design.
However, DoT has rejected the proposal placed by the COAI regarding the introduction of e-SIMs.
