Germany's principal telecommunications company, Deutsche Telekom, has announced it will start using integrated SIM cards (eSIM) starting in 2016. That means mobile phones will no longer need to be outfitted with a chip that can be swapped out. Rather they will come with a permanently installed eSIM card.
The new cards can be programmed remotely, meaning users will not have to swap SIM cards when they switch mobile service providers.
Telekom said the technology will also allow customers to more easily sign up several devices to one mobile contract.
Service providers and the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association, which works on mobile standards, are still trying to finalize a joint standard for the eSIM. The first devices are expected to hit markets at the end of 2016.
With a giant like Telekom backing it, eSIM now has a head start world-wide.
But that doesn't mean SIM cards, the small plastic chips that assign a phone number to every modern cellphone, are going away any time soon. Initial attempts at the eSIM are likely to see some kind of hybrid between the two technologies. The goal is to transition entirely to the eSIM in about a decade.