Dynamic Profile Adaptation: Smarter SIM Provisioning

As the world continues its transition away from physical SIM cards to the software-based eSIM models, consumer mobile behaviour is changing.

Budget-friendly eSIM phones like the Nothing (3a) and the Samsung A55 mean that soft SIMs are no longer a premium feature, reserved for flagship devices. This shift has further advanced the sales of connected wearables like smartwatches and tablets, creating new multi-device customer models and a capricious attitude towards mobile carriers.

Major OEMs have wholeheartedly embraced eSIMs, as they occupy less space than a physical SIM and allow manufacturers to allocate a greater area to other features. The 2025 iPhone Air is a prime example – at just 5.6mm thick, Apple’s latest release is physically unable to accommodate a SIM card tray.

The new normal is upending previously rigid operator-customer structures, replacing them with increased consumer choice and an expectation of simple, instant mobile connectivity, regardless of the device used.

A market shift of this scale provides limitless opportunities for mobile operators, provided they utilize new technologies. Here, we explore how emerging techniques like remote SIM provisioning (RSP) and dynamic profile adaptation (DPA) can help operators prepare for this future.

eSIMs and RSP

For consumers, one of the main attractions of eSIMs is how instant the experience is:

• Instead of travelling to a store or ordering a SIM card online, users can download and start using an eSIM in seconds.

• New devices can be shipped ready with out-of-the-box eSIM connectivity.

• Throughout their lifecycle, security updates can be continually provided by the operator, with no user input.

This is all made possible through remote SIM provisioning, or RSP. RSP describes a set of standards and methods whereby operators can generate and distribute the right eSIMs for the right devices, and provide ongoing management of each one. RSP is also narrowing the connectivity divide across global regions – by sidestepping traditional supply chains, eSIM-based services can help to connect remote areas and maximise global communications access.

An increasingly important element of RSP is dynamic profile adaptation (DPA). Dynamic Profile Adaptation (DPA) enables eSIM-equipped devices to automatically switch network profiles based on preset conditions like location, performance, policy, or time of day.

DPA and 5G Network Slicing

Network slicing is one of the many ways 5G has transformed the mobile industry. In essence, it allows operators to differentiate and assign different portions of the same mobile network to different users, depending on their needs. These subdivisions (or “slices”) of radio spectrum can be differentiated by factors like speed, latency, security, and more. For example, a network may reserve a slice of the spectrum for emergency vehicle operators that require extremely low latencies, below the standard latencies available for consumers.

Network slicing allows a single, shared 5G infrastructure to serve multiple different telecoms use cases, enabling operators to deliver custom services to diverse industries and users without having to build.

As the potential uses of 5G continue to be explored, techniques like network slicing allow operators to deliver a new generation of mobile service, flexibility, and personalities – traits that go hand-in-hand with eSIM technology and dynamic profile adaptation.

Dynamic profile adaptation allows operators to 5G utilize network slicing, as the end-users' eSIMs adapt to their allocated network slice and its inherent qualities.

Why is DPA so important?

Though still a relatively niche term in the telecoms world, dynamic profile adaptation is set to play a major role in the industry’s future. This is chiefly due to three key factors:

1. Global eSIM adoption

2. 5G

3. Multi-device ownership

1. Global eSIM adoption

The eSIM will soon be the standard global SIM format – by 2030, eSIMs are expected to account for 75% of smartphone connections. Already, they outnumber SIM cards in Europe and the Americas, with adoption rates sharply rising around the globe. This September, China relaxed its prohibition on the sale of eSIM-enabled devices, allowing one of the largest countries in the world to enter the market.

Aside from consumer choice and manufacturer pressure, one of the reasons eSIM usage rates have grown so quickly is remote SIM provisioning (RSP). Consumer RSP allows mobile operators to instantly generate, host, and deploy eSIM profiles to devices all over the world, as well as provide ongoing support. The scale at which operators can now connect customers has enabled the rapid spread of eSIM plans, unbound by logistics or geographic barriers.

With the rate of eSIM usage only set to increase, mobile carriers are obliged to continually re-appraise their services and adopt new technologies to supply the increasing demand. DPA provides an element of stability, ensuring that operators can continue to serve growing numbers of customers, even as device types and networks evolve.

2. 5G

Together with eSIMs, the advent of 5G data networks is one of the most significant mobile sector advances of recent years. The new network format redefines what's possible on mobile internet and how operators connect with their customers.

For consumers, 5G data means higher speed, lower latency wireless connections that can support intense computing tasks like LLMs or HD video streaming.

For operators, the larger capacity of 5G networks allows them to offer faster, stronger wireless connections while managing the spiralling demand for high-capacity mobile internet. New disciplines like 5G network slicing offer new ways for operators to serve individual needs, and scale their services as mobile

This scalability is only possible with an agile RSP service, and more particularly, dynamic profile adaptation.

3. Multi-device ownership

The availability of eSIMs has fostered the growth of secondary mobile devices, like cellular iPads, tablets, and fitness trackers. For device manufacturers, the ability to do away with the bulk of a plastic card and SIM tray has allowed them to imbue smaller devices and wearable tech with cellular connectivity. The Apple Watch Series 3, released in 2017, was the first Apple Watch to feature eSIM tech. Since then, the technology has been available in every Apple Watch generation and included as standard on the higher-end Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Hermès models. This period has seen a simultaneous climb in smartwatch sales: today, owning multiple eSIM-enabled devices is increasingly commonplace.

While the overall smartwatch market plateaued last year, 2025 saw massive growth for the Chinese brands Xiaomi and Huawei. Simultaneously, the new eSIM-friendly mobile policy mainland China adopted in September 2025 has primed the region for sales of non-smartphone cellular devices. This may partially account for why, despite slowing sales in 2024, the smartwatch market is still projected to experience strong growth in the coming years.

Staying responsive to these regional market shifts is a requirement for carriers. DPA provides a flexible method for carriers to serve new and existing customers, regardless of their preferred device types. For mobile operators, cellular tablets and smartwatches provide a unique opportunity to build new revenue streams. The ability to seamlessly use the same mobile plans or providers across multiple devices is a strong asset in the consumer mobile space and key to establishing lasting customer relationships.

Dynamic profile adaptation can ensure this runs smoothly. Preparing for the multi-device future requires not only an RSP platform but a DPA-based service that allows customers and network providers to simplify connectivity across diverse hardware forms while upholding secure, reliable, and fast mobile data.

1GLOBAL RSP and DPA

As a relatively new technology, dynamic profile adaptation is only offered by a small number of specialists, including 1GLOBAL.

1GLOBAL is a leading eSIM expert, having provisioned over 60 million eSIM profiles since 2018. 1GLOBAL RSP services currently connect over 450 million people.

Many traditional SIM distribution models from major MNOs are hurriedly retrofitted to accommodate the demand for eSIMs. As eSIM pioneers, 1GLOBAL’s RSP services are instead designed specifically with eSIMs in mind, producing custom solutions that suit the changing needs of mobile providers over time.

This flexibility is centred around a proprietary suite of APIs that integrate with nearly any existing backend and allow providers to automate many of their RSP processes.

The future of RSP

Agility is the defining trait of modern telecoms success. In the last decade alone, the industry has been transformed by hardware, software, and network innovations, from eSIMs to 5G.

The mobile industry body, the GSMA, is already advising MNOs and MVNOs to prepare for the expected 2030 launch of 6G, as well as the ongoing global rollout of 5G. Juggling multiple network types across different regions requires agile processes. Software-based RSP, imbued with DPA capabilities, is fast becoming a necessity. Adaptability, not uncontrolled growth, is how leading brands remain leading brands. New developments like AI, exponential data demands, and the associated environmental impacts are creating an increasingly entropic digital future: telecom brands require scalable, flexible services to navigate these changes. Tools like 1GLOBAL RSP ensure a digital-first approach, adapting subscriber profiles and scaling to meet exacting requirements.

Find out more about 1GLOBAL consumer RSP services, or contact our team directly to discuss using 1GLOBAL RSP with your business.