SGP.32 eSIM Turns Smart Meter Connectivity Into a Remotely Programmable Layer for Utilities

Introduction

The smart meter sitting on a house wall is expected to last fifteen to twenty years, but the cellular networks that carry its data may change three or four times during that same lifetime. Operators consolidate, coverage shifts, technologies are retired, and commercial contracts are renegotiated. For utilities managing estates of hundreds of thousands or millions of meters, each of those changes historically meant a truck roll, a physical SIM swap, or both. A new generation of standards-based eSIM technology is beginning to change that equation.

The GSMA SGP.32 specification, designed specifically for Internet of Things devices rather than consumer smartphones, enables connectivity profiles to be provisioned and managed remotely over the air. In the smart metering sector, two announcements in the autumn of 2026 illustrate how quickly that capability is moving from specification to production deployment. Landis+Gyr, one of the largest smart meter vendors in the world, is integrating Thales' SGP.32-compliant eSIM technology into its Revelo and Surent metering platforms for North American utility deployments. Separately, the Trusted Connectivity Alliance reports that the number of SGP.32-compatible eSIM Subscription Manager platforms grew fivefold during the first half of 2026 compared with the entire previous year. Together, these developments suggest that the industry is finally closing the gap between the long operational life of a utility meter and the short commercial life of a cellular connectivity contract.

The Lifecycle Problem for Utility Meters

A smart meter is a long-lived asset installed in a harsh environment and expected to operate without maintenance for well over a decade. Its cellular modem, by contrast, is tied to a specific operator profile burned into a physical SIM card at the factory. When that operator changes its network, retires a technology generation, or restructures its pricing, the meter itself does not change, but the economics of keeping it connected do.

Landis+Gyr serves more than 2,000 utilities worldwide and reports more than 180 million connected intelligent devices in the field. At that scale, even relatively infrequent connectivity interventions translate into large numbers of field visits. Replacing SIM cards or visiting devices simply to change network connectivity becomes a significant operational burden, particularly when meters are installed in residential basements, commercial rooftops, or rural substations with difficult access.

The scale of the potential problem is also growing. Citing Berg Insight, the companies expect the North American installed base of smart electricity meters to increase from 152.4 million in 2024 to 180.9 million by 2030. Every one of those devices represents a long-term connectivity commitment that may need to be changed at least once during its operational life. The traditional model, in which the network relationship is fixed at the moment the meter is manufactured, no longer matches the operational reality of a fifteen-year asset.

SGP.32 as the Technical Solution

The GSMA SGP.32 specification addresses this mismatch by separating the physical device from a fixed operator profile. Instead of a SIM card soldered or slotted into the meter at the factory, an SGP.32-compliant embedded SIM, or eSIM, can receive new connectivity profiles remotely over the air. The network associated with the device can change without replacing its hardware, and without a technician visiting the site.

SGP.32 was designed specifically for IoT devices, where conventional consumer-oriented provisioning mechanisms are not always practical. Many IoT endpoints operate with limited connectivity, constrained processing capabilities, and no user interface for manual intervention. The specification simplifies remote subscription management across connected devices operating with different levels of connectivity, processing capabilities and user interaction.

For smart metering, the implication is significant. A utility can initially deploy meters on one operator's network, then migrate them to another as coverage, pricing, or technology conditions change. The meter remains physically unchanged for years, while the network relationship behind it becomes something the utility can monitor and modify remotely as operational requirements evolve. In effect, connectivity becomes a software-defined layer rather than a fixed hardware attribute.

Thales and Landis+Gyr: From Specification to Deployment

The Landis+Gyr and Thales collaboration applies this principle to a particularly long-lived and operationally sensitive class of infrastructure: utility meters. Thales will provide its eSIM technology and IoT connectivity management capabilities, while the resulting connectivity functions will become part of Landis+Gyr's Revelo and Surent platforms. The initial focus is smart meter deployments in North America.

The technical foundation is Thales' latest IoT eSIM technology, which complies with the GSMA SGP.32 specification. SGP.32 enables connectivity profiles to be provisioned and managed remotely, allowing the network associated with an IoT device to change without replacing its SIM hardware. This is particularly relevant to smart metering because the lifetime of the communications infrastructure does not necessarily match that of the meter itself. Separating the physical device from a fixed operator profile gives utilities more room to respond to changes in coverage, commercial arrangements or network availability after equipment has already been installed.

The collaboration goes beyond remote eSIM provisioning. Thales' technology will be combined with Simetric's connectivity management platform, providing utilities with a centralized environment for monitoring, analysing and controlling connectivity across their meter fleets. An important distinction is that the management environment supports both conventional SIM and eSIM-enabled devices. Utilities rarely replace an entire meter estate at once, so a platform limited to new eSIM equipment would leave operators managing separate generations of connectivity infrastructure. Supporting both allows existing devices and newer SGP.32-capable meters to remain visible through a common operational layer.

This makes the announcement different from a typical eSIM deployment focused primarily on simplifying initial device activation. Here, the emphasis is on managing a heterogeneous installed base over time. The value of remote provisioning therefore lies as much in operations after deployment as in eliminating SIM handling during installation.

The Simetric Management Layer

The inclusion of Simetric's connectivity management platform is a critical detail. Remote provisioning on its own solves only part of the problem; utilities also need visibility into which devices are on which networks, how much data they are consuming, and whether profiles are active or in transition. A centralized management layer provides that operational control, allowing connectivity changes to be applied to individual meters or groups of devices rather than physical maintenance tasks.

For connectivity providers, the shift is equally significant. Maintaining a position within a large utility fleet increasingly depends on software-based provisioning and lifecycle orchestration rather than a SIM installed permanently with the device. The meter may remain physically unchanged for years, while the network relationship behind it becomes something utilities can monitor and modify remotely as operational requirements evolve. For connectivity providers, it also means that maintaining a position within a large utility fleet increasingly depends on software-based provisioning and lifecycle orchestration rather than a SIM installed permanently with the device.

Ecosystem Growth: Fivefold Expansion in SGP.32 Platforms

The Landis+Gyr deployment is not an isolated announcement. New figures from the Trusted Connectivity Alliance show a fivefold increase in SGP.32-compatible eSIM Subscription Manager platforms during the first half of 2026, compared with the full-year 2025 figure. The TCA, whose members are estimated to represent approximately 85 percent of the global eSIM hardware market, bases its monitoring on member shipment, transaction and platform data.

The fivefold increase is particularly significant because it measures the expansion of subscription management infrastructure rather than simply the number of eSIM-enabled devices entering the market. For OEMs and enterprises, the growing availability of compatible platforms could expand their options for managing cellular connectivity throughout a device's operational lifetime. This is relevant to applications such as industrial monitoring, asset tracking, connected vehicles and smart infrastructure, where devices may remain deployed for years without convenient physical access.

However, the distinction between platform availability and actual deployment adoption is important. A fivefold increase in compatible subscription management platforms does not necessarily translate into equivalent growth in connected devices using SGP.32. The TCA announcement does not disclose the absolute number of compatible platforms or the number of IoT devices actively provisioned through them. Nevertheless, the figures point to growing investment in the infrastructure needed to support wider adoption of the standard.

Consumer eSIM and Traditional SIM Demand

The SGP.32 growth story sits alongside broader eSIM market dynamics. TCA's latest figures show a sharp acceleration in consumer eSIM adoption. Worldwide consumer eSIM profile downloads during the first six months of 2026 reached almost the same volume recorded throughout the whole of 2025. China was a major contributor to this increase, following regulatory approval for leading domestic operators to offer eSIM services in October 2025. Growth also continued across North America and Europe, as well as emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa and South America.

Despite this momentum, one notable finding is that rapid eSIM adoption has not resulted in a decline in traditional SIM demand. TCA members reported a 6 percent year-on-year increase in delivered traditional SIM volumes during the first half of 2026, continuing the growth recorded in 2025. This coexistence reflects the different requirements of the broader connectivity market. While eSIM offers remote subscription management capabilities, traditional SIM solutions remain relevant across numerous applications and deployment environments.

For the IoT industry, the findings reinforce the importance of selecting connectivity technology according to operational requirements rather than assuming a uniform transition toward eSIM. Smart metering, with its fifteen-to-twenty-year device lifetimes and large installed bases, is precisely the kind of application where the remote programmability of SGP.32 eSIM delivers clear operational value. Other IoT applications with shorter lifecycles or simpler connectivity needs may continue to rely on conventional SIM technology for years to come.

Implications for Utilities and Connectivity Providers

For utilities, the shift toward SGP.32 eSIM represents a fundamental change in how connectivity is planned and managed. Rather than choosing the right operator at deployment time and living with that choice for the life of the meter, utilities can ensure that the choice can be changed later. Connectivity planning moves from a one-time procurement decision to an ongoing operational capability, managed through software rather than hardware.

For connectivity providers, the competitive dynamics change as well. Providers that can offer seamless profile migration, robust management platforms, and long-term support for heterogeneous device estates will have an advantage over those relying on traditional SIM-based relationships.

The result is a more software-defined approach to smart meter connectivity. The meter may remain physically unchanged for years, while the network relationship behind it becomes something utilities can monitor and modify remotely as operational requirements evolve. For an industry that has historically treated connectivity as a fixed attribute of a physical device, this represents a significant architectural shift.

Conclusion

The convergence of SGP.32 eSIM technology and smart metering infrastructure addresses one of the most persistent operational challenges in the utility sector: the mismatch between the long life of a meter and the short commercial life of a cellular connectivity contract. The Thales and Landis+Gyr collaboration demonstrates that the technology is ready for production deployment at scale, while the Trusted Connectivity Alliance data shows that the underlying infrastructure is expanding rapidly.

The next measure of progress will be how effectively this expanding infrastructure translates into interoperable, commercially deployed IoT solutions. For utilities managing hundreds of millions of connected devices, the ability to reprogram connectivity remotely rather than dispatching technicians to swap SIM cards could reshape the economics of smart metering for years to come. As more SGP.32-compatible platforms become available and more meter vendors integrate the technology, the smart meter's network relationship may finally become as flexible as the software it runs.

This article synthesises announcements from Landis+Gyr, Thales and the Trusted Connectivity Alliance dated October 2026, along with market analysis from Berg Insight and IoT Business News reporting on smart meter connectivity.

For more on connected device standards and protocols, see our coverage in the /category/iot section. Sources include the Trusted Connectivity Alliance market snapshot and reporting from IoT Business News.