The Netherlands makes Carrier Unlocked SIM Cards Legal heralding M2M and the Internet of Things

The Little Dutch Boy Country, the Netherlands, has become the first country on Planet Earth to have SIM (Subscriber Identification Modules) that aren’t tied to a particular Telecom Provider as stated in “The Netherlands paves the way for carrier-free SIM cards”, published March 19, 2014 9:36 AM PDT by Michelle Starr, CNET News.

In layman’s terms, SIM Cards are no longer issued by the Telecom Providers but come with the mobile instrument purchased by the subscriber. Then you simply place the Carrier Unlocked SIM Card into the Mobile Instrument and then a menu will appear asking you to select the Telecom Provider that you prefer to use.

This depends on how close you are to their Cellular GSM Network and is somewhat similar to how you would choose a Wi-Fi Network to access Internet Access on your Laptop or Tablet. Once you choose the Telecom Network of choice, your SIM Card can then be used to make calls and access all the Service of that Telecom Provider.

Best of all, if at some point in time you decide that you don’t like that Telecom Provider’s Service, you can go through the process again and choose another Telecom Provider from the menu selection for Telecom Providers. Telecom Equiptment makers, who make both the Equiptment and the Mobile Phone, could now start shipping their cellphones in the Netherlands with Carrier Unlocked SIM Card that the customer can activate themselves.

Apple and the Carrier Unlocked SIM Card – Telecom Providers fear losing Lucrative 2 Year Voice Contracts

This was the same exact idea Apple had back in October 2010, when they proposed the very same idea as described in “Is Apple About to Cut Out the Carriers?”, published OCT. 27, 2010 - 12:01 PM PDT by Stacey Higginbotham, Gigaom. 

Their idea was that it would not only free Customers from 2 year Contracts, but would also allow for SIM Cards, be it Mini, Micro or Nano SIM Cards as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to make you own Micro-SIM or Nano-SIM Card”, to be used in other devices other than cellphones.

This would allow them to be connected to Voice and Data Services over Telecom Providers Networks and thus allow Machines to communicate to each other, the so called M2M (Machine-to-Machine) Communication that had Telecom Provider AT&T excited as stated in my Geezam blog article entitled “NFC and M2M – Cashless Society and the Internet of Things” and my blog article entitled “Google and AI - The Matrix and Terminator Rise of the Machines”..

This as Telecom Provider AT&T had anticipated a fall-off in Voice and SMS (Short Messaging Services) revenues with the increasing interest in Data Centric smartphones such as Apple iPhones and Google Android Phones.

Thus the idea was to connect other devices using SIM Cards to their Telecom Networks that could communicate to each and to Servers using slower speed GPRS (Global Packet Radio Systems) and EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution) Networks as described in my blog article entitled “Telecom Provider LIME and M2M Services - Free SMS and EDGE for the Caribbean to Foster Regional Integration”.

In the process, it would make Voice Calling free, as the fall-off in Voice Traffic would be replaced by increased traffic from Machines talking to Servers and each other using Audio Chirps or just EDGE and GSM mainly to transmit small discrete amounts of Data, usually less than 100 kb to 500 kb in size.

Apple’s idea got little traction and support from Telecom Providers in the US of A and presumably the rest of the World. A shame, as it would have powered M2M Networks that Telecom Provider AT&T, a longtime Apple partner and the first to get the Apple iPhone as explained in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Data - Verizon gets their wish”.

Telecom Providers make the bulk of their revenue from having persons locked into their Network on 2 year Contracts. Giving people that level of Freedom by giving them Carrier Unlocked SIM Cards would wreak havoc on their profit margins as Americans would switch Telecom Providers as it suited them.

It would effectively herald the death of 2 Year Contract Plans as Carrier Unlocked SIM Cards would be the same thing as everyone having a Dual-SIM mobile phone as stated in my Geezam blog article entitled “Trend towards Dual-SIM Smartphones developing in Jamaica as MNP Approaches”.

2 Year Data Plan not under Threat - M2M and the Internet of Things a boon to Telecom Providers

However, Telecom Providers are already losing revenue from SMS to IM (Instant Messaging) from the slow and steady rise of Mobile Social Networks as stated in my blog article entitled “CTIA reports a 5% decline in US Texting as Instant Messaging ramps up - WhatsApp's now Top Gun as The Dead Zone leads Star Trek Into the Darkness”.

Voice appears to be next in their targets, as there’s been a flurry of VoIP Apps that are getting ready to offer Services over 3G/4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) Wireless Broadband Internet.

Recently acquired by Facebook, is one of them coming by Summer of 2014 as stated in my blog article entitled “WhatsApp VoIP Calling in Second Quarter of 2014 - WhatsApp kills International Calling at the Advent of Facetime-eqsue Premium Video VoIP Calling on smartphones”.

Japanese based VoIP Calling App Line has already started since Monday March 17^th 2013 as stated in my blog article entitled “Japanese Line introduces Line Call for Landline and Mobile - US$0.02 per Call and Kawaii Stickers a plus as WhatsApp and Skype get company in making International Calling and Roaming Extinct”.

Thus it makes sense for Telecom Providers to allow Carrier Unlocked SIM Cards on their GSM Voice Networks, especially in the US of A, where unlocking of Smartphones has been made legal as noted in my blog article entitled “How to Unlock your Apple iPhone - Backup, Erase and Restore with The Bag Man being iOS Setup Assistant”.

Telecom Providers can continue making money from M2M Services in this coming Legal-to-Unlock-smartphones-and-SIM-Cards Era as more and more Devices get connected and start communicating via GSM Voice/GPRS/EDGE long after humans have ceased using these Relics of the 2G Era.

They have little to fear too of losing Data Services, as in order to get 3G/4G LTE Data Service on a smartphone in the US of A, you have to have applied a 2 Year Data or 30 Day Data Contract on your smartphone with a minimum Voice Plan, whether you SIM Card is Carrier Unlocked or not.

Their main concerns would of course be the rate of adoption of M2M Services. This given the fact that most persons may not want to pay for the usage of the 2G Networks via that extra SIM Card that’ll provide mostly Alert based Services e.g. Refrigerator advising you via phone that your milk is spoilt and you’re out of bread.   

But as Americans warm up to the idea of their fridge becoming yet another Bot on the internet searching for information while they’re away working as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “61% of all Traffic on the Internet is generated by bots”, it’ll gradually gain traction.

As soon as Equipment makers can prevent Hackers from using Refrigerators and other home Appliances as unwitting participants in a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) BotNet Attack as described in my blog article entitled “Proofpoint says Refridgerator hacked and used to send Spam email - Internet of Things Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines for hacker's DDOS and Spambots ”.

It’ll forge more partnerships between Developers and Equiptment Makers to allow for interconnectivity over the Internet once more devices have SIM Cards. Already once such potential partnership that has been announced at MWC (Mobile World Conference) 2014 is Mozilla Corporation and Panasonic.

The two have partnered to introduce Firefox OS into their Television sets and eventually into their Home Appliances to create an Ecosystem connected in the Internet of Things as noted in my blog article entitled “Panasonic and Mozilla Foundation form Partnership to bring Firefox OS to Smart TV's - Big boost for Open Web and HTML 5 Platforms making Firefox OS a possible Google Chrome OS Competitor”.

Telecom Providers globally have nothing to fear. In the future, if they decided to introduce Carrier Unlocked SIM Cards on their Telecom Networks as is now the case in the Netherlands, they can continue to make money via the interconnecting of more devices to their Telecom Networks.

They can resell M2M Services to Equiptment Makers and end-users directly, thus fuelling the trend towards the Internet of Things as already is happening according to my Geezam blog article entitled “The Internet of Things – Our AI’s State of Connectedness”.

Like the Little Dutch Boy, they would have disabled the Unlocking smartphone and SIM Card bomb before it had a chance to explode by embracing the change wholeheartedly!