eSIM Re-Selling on Mobile App

Sammanfattning: In recent years many devices such as smartphones, smart watches and laptops have started being equipped with embedded SIM cards called eSIM, which have the possibility to be reprogrammed with new subscription data through a process called remote SIM provisioning. To enable the eSIM in these devices, the mobile operators have had to implement new systems for the remote SIM provisioning process, and most of the research around this process has focused on security, leaving other areas unexplored. Therefore, in this master’s thesis the possibility for a 3rd party to be able to use eSIM and to take the role as re-seller of eSIM subscriptions for consumer devices on a mobile app has been explored by studying the existing eSIM and remote SIM provisioning specifications along with the specifications of the most commonly used mobile operating systems, Android and iOS. The findings were that there is nothing in the eSIM standard that prevents 3rd parties from re-selling eSIM subscriptions for the mobile operators, but that there are some obstacles in both the Android and iOS operating systems as they need carrier privileges or eSIM access entitlements respectively to be able to access the APIs that handles the eSIM in the device. Based on this research two different solutions, depending on whether the app has the possibility to gain the carrier privileges or eSIM access entitlements or not, were proposed. From these, an architecture for re-selling eSIM subscriptions was developed together with a proof of concept on the client part of the proposed solution in the form of an app for Android devices.