SIM Cards and eSIMs
Programmed to your network, in the quantities you actually need
Running a private 5G network means putting your own identity onto the SIMs: your PLMN, your IMSI range, your authentication keys. The SIM industry is built around orders of many thousands, with profile definition, encrypted key exchange and lead times measured in weeks, which is an awkward fit when the network you are building has twenty devices on it. We programme SIMs ourselves, on our own equipment, so we can supply from a single card upwards.
A SIM is not a blank piece of plastic. It carries a filesystem, an identity and a set of cryptographic keys that must match exactly what your core expects, which is why ordering a small quantity has traditionally been so painful: you define a profile with a vendor, exchange keys over an encrypted channel, wait for a production batch, and then discover the fields you actually wanted changed are the ones that were fixed at profile definition.
We took the other approach and brought the programming in-house. We run our own bulk card programmer, which writes the identity and keys onto each card directly, so the economics of a five-card order look much the same to us as a five-hundred-card order. That is the capability we are offering here.
What we programme
Your network identity, not ours
You choose the PLMN (MCC and MNC), the starting IMSI and the network name your devices display. We write those onto the cards along with freshly generated authentication keys.
Built for 5G standalone
Milenage authentication on AES-128 keys, with SUCI concealment using your home network public key. That last part matters: iPhones and cellular iPads will not attach to a private network without it.
Low volumes, short lead times
Because we programme in-house rather than waiting on a vendor batch, a handful of SIMs for a proof of concept is as straightforward for us as a full deployment.
Physical and eSIM
Physical cards in 2FF, 3FF and 4FF, with USIM and ISIM applications; eSIM profiles and eUICC cards for devices where swapping a physical SIM is impractical.
What you get
- Order from a single SIM: £10 for the first, £5 for each one after
- Free postage within the UK, £25 by FedEx to Europe and the USA
- PLMN, IMSI range and network name all specified by you
- SUCI concealment, IMS configuration and multi-IMSI supported
- Keys delivered through your Aerix portal, not by email
Where this fits, and where it does not
Ordering online suits the common case: physical SIMs, a 2-digit MNC, somewhere between one and fifty cards, delivered to the UK, Europe or the USA. It is deliberately a narrow offer, because those are the orders we can price honestly and turn around quickly.
Everything outside that is a conversation rather than a checkout: eSIM profiles, a 3-digit MNC, several hundred cards, unusual form factors, or a profile with requirements beyond the fields we expose. None of it is exotic, it simply needs us to agree the specification with you first.
Common questions
What can you customise on the SIM?
The network identity and the security material. That means the PLMN (your MCC and MNC), the IMSI range, the service provider name your handset displays, and the authentication keys (Ki and OPc) that your core needs to know. We can also set PINs, PUKs and ADM keys, enable or disable the IMS configuration, load a SUCI home network public key, and write multi-IMSI profiles where a card needs to work on more than one network.
What is the minimum order?
One. That is the point of programming them ourselves. Through the website you can order between 1 and 50 SIMs at £10 for the first and £5 for each one after, excluding VAT. Larger volumes are still perfectly possible, they just go through a vendor batch rather than our own machine, so please talk to us about lead times.
Will these work with 5G standalone, and with iPhones?
Yes, and the two questions are connected. Our SIMs use Milenage authentication on AES-128 keys and support SUCI concealment, where the subscriber identity is encrypted with your home network public key rather than sent in the clear. Apple requires SUCI concealment before an iPhone or cellular iPad will attach to a private network, so a SIM without it will work on Android handsets and routers but quietly fail on Apple devices. We configure it by default where you supply a key.
Do you supply eSIMs as well as physical cards?
Both. Physical cards come in 2FF, 3FF and 4FF form factors with USIM and ISIM applications. For eSIM we can supply profiles for devices with an embedded eUICC, and eUICC cards in a physical SIM form factor, which are useful where a device has a SIM slot but you want to change profiles remotely later. eSIM ordering is not yet self-service on the website, so please get in touch for those.
How do I receive the keys?
Through your Aerix portal, as a download, rather than as an email attachment. Ki and OPc are the credentials your core uses to authenticate every device on your network, so treating them as ordinary email traffic is not something we are willing to do. If you are running an Open5GS core, the download is formatted so you can load subscribers straight into it.
Can you use any PLMN I choose?
Within reason, and with one current limitation. Private networks in the UK commonly use a shared access licence with an assigned PLMN, and we will programme whatever you are entitled to use; test networks frequently use 999 or 001 ranges. The limitation is that our programming configuration currently supports a 5-digit PLMN, so a 3-digit MNC needs to be arranged manually rather than ordered online. If you try to order one, the site will tell you rather than take your money.
How long does an order take?
The programming itself takes minutes. The honest constraint is that the machine sits in our office and needs someone present to load the cards and empty the output tray, so an order placed overnight will be programmed the following working day and posted the same day where we can.