AT&T and Thales have launched a next-generation eSIM-based solution built around the latest GSMA specification SGP.32, targeted at large-scale IoT fleets.
AT&T and Thales have launched a next-generation eSIM solution built on the latest GSMA SGP.32 standard, designed specifically for massive-scale IoT fleets. Instead of wrestling with regional SIM logistics, devices can now be manufactured and shipped globally with a single, embedded eSIM and later provisioned remotely with the appropriate connectivity profile—no physical SIM swap, no local intervention. This shift also enables full over-the-air management of subscriptions, diagnostics, firmware and network policies, allowing fleets of sensors and industrial devices to be orchestrated more like modern cloud infrastructure than legacy telecom hardware.
Security has been elevated as well, with the platform aligned to current certification schemes (including eSA) and engineered from a secure-by-design foundation to support critical infrastructure-grade deployments. And this innovation isn’t arriving in a vacuum. With the GSMA forecasting around 5.8 billion cellular IoT connections by 2030, this architecture is built for scale—anticipating a world where billions of devices, across agriculture, energy, logistics, maritime and satellite IoT, require flexible, secure and seamless connectivity without hardware friction.
If you’re working in agritech, logistics, utilities, smart-cities or satellite-enabled sensors, this isn’t just incremental—it’s foundational.
Why this matters for satellite IoT
You and I know that much of the value in satellite IoT comes when terrestrial connectivity fails: remote farms, shipping assets, maritime, pipelines, mobile units, etc. The mantra: “data everywhere, devices everywhere”.
Yet one recurring operational friction for large-scale IoT (and especially global deployments) has been the logistics of connectivity: sourcing the right SIM for the right region, handling roaming and regulatory complexity, managing device lifecycle connectivity, and swapping hardware when network or region changes.
It’s precisely here that eSIM + SGP.32 + fleet orchestration plugs into the satellite play:
- Global footprint, fewer SKUs: A device built for global markets can ship with one eSIM and later receive the appropriate profile, lowering the cost of managing multiple SKUs, customs / region-specific logistics, and hardware changes.
- Non-terrestrial readiness: For satellite or NTN (non-terrestrial network) connectivity, devices often move across regions (airborne, maritime, remote outdoors). The remote subscription change becomes a strategic enabler. Indeed, GSMA’s paper on “The Next chapter for 5G-IoT: scaling with Ambient IoT, eSIM and NTN” makes the linkage explicit. gsma.com
- Lifecycle flexibility: A sensor might start on terrestrial LPWAN, switch to NB-IoT, then to sat-IoT as the asset moves. With eSIM and OTA management, hardware footprint stays constant while connectivity logic follows the device.
- Cost and time compression: For global agritech/ports deployment, the slowest part is often connectivity logistics. With pre-integrated eSIM and OTA activation, time-to-market can shrink significantly.
The tension in the room: adoption and orchestration
But—this isn’t a silver bullet yet. eSIM adoption in IoT has been slower than ideal. Insights from IoT Analytics show that although the installed base of eSIM-capable IoT modules reached ~650 million in 2023, only about a third of cellular IoT devices were using it.
Why? The industry still wrestles with fragmentation of standards, regional regulatory quirks, operator readiness, and the orchestration layer that glues it all together.
And here’s where a lens for your book comes into play: who holds control? eSIM shifts power from hardware logistics to software orchestration. Device OEMs, connectivity providers, and network operators all vie for their slice of that orchestration layer.
Key take-aways for business leaders
Here are four implications:
Shift in logistics model: The connectivity enablement moves from “hardware delivered then network activated locally” to “hardware globally distributed then network profile downloaded anywhere”.
Data-as-a-Service becomes plausible: If device connectivity is flexible and global with minimal hardware overhead, then recurring revenue models (subscription, remote management, analytics) become more credible.
Satellite becomes less of a niche and more of a global normal: As terrestrial constraints ease (via remote provisioning), the remaining edge cases become more about coverage & mobility—areas where satellite shines.
Competitive risk for slow-movers: Big enterprises risk staying behind if they continue designing regional-by-region models of device + SIM + deployment. The speed and flexibility unlocked by these new eSIM models mimics the wider AI-revolution narrative: act or be disrupted.
Final word: time to recalibrate
Where data is “fuel”, IoT is the “engine”, and satellite is the frontier expansion—the AT&T/Thales move is a chapter-breaker. It tells us that the operational barrier isn’t just coverage—it’s connectivity logistics and lifetime management—and that barrier is being lowered.
“If you’re still thinking “device shipment → regional SIM” you’re five years behind those thinking “device shipment → global eSIM profile → remote activation → data stream”. Satellite IoT isn’t just about the sky anymore—it’s about the orchestration beneath it.