Days ahead of Mobile World Congress 2019, Barcelona, Cybersecurity firm Gemalto said that it is launching world’s first 5G SIM to meet operator requirements for the new generation of network deployments which will emerge in 2019. The company is likely to showcase its new products and services at MWC 2019.
The company said its new SIM is compliant with the latest ETSI 3GPP specifications and SIM alliance recommendations. The company is pushing 5G SIM as a key instrument that is capable of securing 5G network access.
The company said that its 5G SIM brings not only improved data privacy and seamless 5G global roaming imposed by the latest standards but is also the first to add enhanced protection against hacking to anticipate future requirements.
Citing a report, Gemalto said that by 2024, 5G network coverage is expected to reach 40% of the global population, and will account for 1.5 billion subscriptions. Leveraging the benefits of 5G, key use cases of the new SIM are set to include enhanced mobile broadband, massive IoT applications, and critical communication infrastructures, said the company.
The company informed that its 5G SIM will be available in all SIM form factors including removable SIM, M2M SIM, eSIM, during the first half of 2019. Key benefits of the new 5G SIM include full anonymization of end-to-end subscriber identities; it eliminates the potential to misuse such information to locate and trace individuals, or collect personal data, and ensures mobile operators comply with regulations such as GDPR.
In addition, trusted environment resilience will help operators secure the entire SIM lifecycle, eliminating exposure to hacking attacks and accidental breaches. A seamless 5G roaming experience is also supported, maximizing revenues and enhancing the customer experience,” said Gemalto.
Gemalto said it has been working closely with key 5G industry stakeholders around the world in the development of 5G SIM, through standardization, prototyping and testing.
“The 5G SIM provides the foundation of trust in this next generation mobile network for operators and other stakeholders in the eco-system” said Emmanuel Unguran, EVP Mobile Services & IoT Business Unit, for Gemalto.
“It will help operators unleash the full 5G potential, maximize their network investments, and simplify new service deployment with full backward compatibility to previous 3G/4G technology,” said Unguran.
“Qualcomm Technologies has a longstanding relationship with Gemalto focused on delivering mobile solutions with robust security,” said Gautam Sheoran, Senior Director, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
“We are now extending this collaboration to allow OEMs to easily develop exciting 5G devices with strong security, using both Gemalto 5G SIM and our next generation flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform to pave the path for 5G commercialization in 2019.”
