Secure and Scalable eSIM Service Provisioning Framework for Mobile Virtual Network Operators

The adoption of embedded SIMs (eSIMs) is growing at a rapid pace, progressively replacing physical SIM cards. eSIMs enable flexible on-boarding as well as seamless switching between the operators, thereby intensifying the competition and causing disruption in the mobile-ecosystem. A variety of data plans are being offered by multiple mobile network operators (MNOs) and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) to attract more customers. The MVNOs mainly earn their revenue by targeting niche markets such as tourists or by adopting different business models based on wholesale agreement with multiple MNOs. However, their commercial viability is restricted owing to limitations in existing wholesale pricing models, and the degree of their operational and technological control in the value chain. Although MVNOs have a smaller customer base than the MNOs, they should enhance their operational and business support systems to compete with the MNOs and mitigate the high risk of churn introduced by eSIMs. To address these issues, we propose a secure and scalable wholesale pricing framework that allows the MVNOs to provide seamless service to the customers, while optimizing their profitability. The proposed framework is based on reverse sealed-bid auctions, where the MVNOs select the best pricing plans for the customer based on the bids offered by different MNOs. The QoS, privacy and scalability requirements for offering these services are fulfilled by leveraging DAG (Directed Acyclic Graphs) for recording MVNO-MNO and MVNO-customer transactions, as well as micro-transactions for pricing network resources.