Multihoming with Dynamic Mobile Network Selection: Possible Scenarios and Impact on Competition

Abstract

This article describes how mobile operators occasionally fail to provide adequate service quality due to network overload, blackouts, or coverage white spots. Customers can increase the quality of connections by multihoming, i.e. using subscriptions of several operators. Multihoming is facilitated by an innovative reprogrammable embedded SIM (eSIM) that can enable dynamic switching between networks. Although eSIM multihoming is advantageous, its future is not definite, as it is affected by multiple factors and actors with conflicting business interests. This paper defines scenarios for the evolution of eSIM multihoming and its possible impact on competition by constructing qualitative system dynamics models based on expert interviews. The results show that depending on market conditions and actions of stakeholders, multihoming may reach high diffusion, find application in special use cases, or fail to take off. With high diffusion, competition between operators will become more dynamic, and market share will be defined by the number of served sessions.