How COMPRION and Verkotan enable eSIM mobile device testing by innovating the connection of eSIM test profiles to network simulators.

 

A New Challenge to Tackle

More and more mobile devices are equipped with an eSIM, the embedded successor of the plug-in plastic SIM card. This does not only apply for smartphones, but also – and even broader already today - for smartwatches and IoT devices, like the dog tracker or the connected bike. More and more devices are even eSIM-only devices. In order to connect such a device to a network, an eSIM profile has to be loaded onto the eSIM chip.

Verkotan is a test lab in Finland with over 20 years of experience in RF technology and OTA (over-the-air) testing. Part of the service offering is related to mobile devices, e.g.:

• Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) measurement for 5G user equipment, such as mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, IoT devices
• Mobile network operator OTA approval testing for cellular devices

Customers of Verkotan are device manufacturers, but also mobile network operators. For these kind of testing, a cellular radio connection has to be established between the mobile device and a network simulator in the lab. For “traditional” mobile devices this is facilitated by plugging a test SIM card into the device which contains all parameters to connect to the network simulator.
For eSIM devices – in particular eSIM-only devices – an eSIM test profile needs to be load onto the eSIM. For commercial/ (near) market ready devices there is no easy solution for this as the eSIM is shielded by its security features.

Asking customers to provide special test devices with an eSIM chip with a pre-loaded eSIM test profile, or unsoldering the eSIM chip in order to connect the device to a special test eSIM chip, are not practical at all.

 

"As a leading edge testing service provider of SAR and OTA for cellular mobile devices, we can offer such testing services even for the latest eSIM devices - whether smartphones, watches or IOT devices – as we use COMPRION‘s eSIM Test Profile Service to make this possible." - Jani Kallankari, Chief Scientist at Verkotan

 

Overcoming the Obstacle

Verkotan is using COMPRION‘s eSIM Test Profile Service to load an eSIM test profile onto a commercial / market-ready test devices. The COMPRION service provides a variety of test profiles, which are designed to facilitate the testing scenarios – e.g. to connect to network simulator in the lab. Also custom-specific profiles are supported when needed. The COMPRION eSIM Test Profile Services fulfills the same security features as the eSIM in a commercial device and therefore can connect to it.
The preparation of a mobile device with a test profile is very simple: The build-in capabilities can be used to load such a profile – same as it would be done to load a commercial mobile network operator profile.

Having the COMPRION eSIM Test Profile Service at disposal, Verkotan can now conduct testing services for its customers also for latest commercial eSIM devices. These represent a growing fraction of the device portfolio which Verkotan is testing.
The GSMA is predicting that in 2025 26%-40% of all smartphone connections will be controlled by eSIM.

The trend towards eSIM for other types of devices, e.g. smartwatches and IoT devices, is even faster.
The number of devices tested/certified within the GCF (Global Certification Forum) has rapidly increased over the past years.

I.e. having the ability to test eSIM devices is critical for the business of a test lab like Verkotan.

 

Get code from eSIM Test Profile Service	Scan code with device under test	Device loads test profile	Connect to network	...and start testing!

 

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• eSIM Profiles
• eSIM Test Profile Service
• eSIM
• Conformance Testing