As many participants of the COMPRION RSP Advanced Trainings asked this question, COMPRION experts Andras and Olaf explain why.

First question: What is a profile on an eSIM or eUICC?

Andras: eUICC is the technical term for eSIM, which stands for embedded Subscriber Identify Module. The eSIM has your keys needed to access a mobile network. The latest smartphones, wearables, or tablets that lack a physical SIM slot use an eSIM for connecting. And, if it is to work in a mobile network, then there always must be a profile on it as well. This eSIM profile can be described as a set of data, applications, and file structures used for the cellular connections to your mobile network operator.

What happens with incorrect eSIM profiles?

Andras: Indeed the eSIM rejects download attempts with syntax errors. However, its limited computing capability cannot detect inconsistent profile configurations. For example, the transfer of a PUK reference without PUK definition is not stopped. If an incorrectly formatted profile is installed, the result can be unpredictable. In a worst-case scenario, it can cause operational issues in the field: Access to some data can be blocked. So a related service is not available. Or OTA (over-the-air) remote access for changing data does not work due to wrong PINs. Ultimately, it can even prevent the eSIM from accessing the cellular network at all. This is, because the profile cannot be activated.

Of course, there is a plan B: If you use Wi-Fi, you can search for another eSIM profile; an IoT/M2M device switches to a fallback profile. But in any case, it takes time. More important for the service provider, it is costly to go back to plan A, not to mention the damage to the brand’s image.

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How to avoid unpredictable results?

Olaf: As a smart help, a tool is available that offers reliable profile validation: COMPRION’s eUICC Profile Manager uses a comprehensive set of more than 80 validation rules. Based on theses rules, it automatically checks generic requirements like the proper order of profile elements. Additionally, it evaluates specific dependencies such as conditional elements, for example, “if this field is present, it must contain that value”.

Maybe this does not sound complicated. And one could doubt there is a need for an extra tool? However, 27 different profile elements, each of them allowing up to 27 subelements, is quite a number. To verify all these elements and subelements manually takes time, and errors can quickly creep in. Simply put, eUICC Profile Manager effectively helps profile creators to validate a profile. Why is this so important? Well, quantity matters. Whereas a mobile network operator may not have many profiles, the number of installations is huge. So, any error that can happen related to the eSIM profile, will very probably happen.