Ahead of MWC Shanghai 2023 taking place next week from the 28th to the 30th of June, Ariana Lynn, Senior Analyst at The Fast Mode spoke to Loic Bonvarlet, SVP Product and Marketing at Kigen, a leading SIM, eSIM and iSIM solution provider for IoT devices. In this brief interview, Loic discusses Kigen's participation at the long-awaited event and some of his predictions for the telecoms industry in 2023.
Ariana: How will this year’s MWC Shanghai be different from MWC Shanghai 2022?
Loic: After the last couple of years which presented challenges for the physical event, we see a tremendous amount of momentum and energy in the region to make MWC Shanghai a memorable one! The local and regional ecosystem sets the pace and speed of the market globally, so being able to have MWC Shanghai 2023 in its full capacity as a physical event will be a boost for the entire industry! In the last year alone, we have seen eSIM catapult into the mainstream technologies, the rise of Generative AI, and great progress on GSMA standards with SGP.32 as well as 3GPP Release 17 – all these mean that there is renewed attention on security becoming vital for intelligent, innovative, and impactful uses – this is setting Kigen’s agenda for the event!
Ariana: What are your showcases/highlights at the event?
Loic: We have just announced that TongXin Microcontrollers Co Ltd (TMC) has entrusted Kigen’s new Consumer eSIM OS with their THD89 eSIM secure chipset for GSMA-certified joint solution to empower OEMs to address the growing demand of affordable Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). There is an estimated cumulative revenue opportunity of USD 100 billion, and this solution accelerates how OEMs can expand into new geographies readily and scale to offer value-added differentiation. Accounting for the next billion connections, CPEs will drive 5G adoption and, in doing so, will be a vital tool to bridge the digital divide.
OEMs and device makers or operators looking to address export markets will be able to see this solution at the TMC booth (N1.E94) and with the Kigen team.
Ariana: What are some of the new challenges expected to impact the telecoms industry in 2023?
Loic: The 5G focus shifts to monetization, and private and networks in motion will have a huge focus. There are over 100+ Requests for Proposals from service providers in 2022 till the first quarter 2023 on-demand for eSIM-enabled 5G devices in IoT and Fixed Wireless Access. There is a huge potential to support markets through secure devices in Point of Sale and Retail, smart metering, and logistics. We at Kigen continue to work together in value-shared partnership with the leading connectivity, module, and chipset providers, so we are placed very well to help businesses looking to address 5G monetization with eSIM and, next, with integrated eUICC – or iSIM technology.
New regulation that puts requirements on where data is generated and controlled; and how consumers are supported is another area where new approaches are needed, and operating in the old ways will not sustain. We are working with leading connectivity providers to address key markets and support the global rollouts of differentiating and purposeful uses of eSIM services. This is a space that is evolving quickly, and we as an industry need to deliver solutions that will respect and succeed so that the 5G opportunity grows.
Loic Bonvarlet oversees Product Management and Marketing for Kigen, helping to facilitate adoption and scalability of a secure, integrated and cost effective cellular IoT. He drives the entire Kigen portfolio from embedded solutions to services. He has more than 20 years of experience in Telecoms, wireless, security and IoT in development, support, technical sales and product marketing. Prior to Kigen, Loic Bonvarlet worked at Arm (2018-2020) as Product Marketing Director, Secure Identity notably to develop and promote Kigen Portfolio and first iSIM projects.
