1oT Turns 5: The Highlights of the Last 5 Years

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Mikk Lemberg

1oT was founded on the belief that deploying networked devices anywhere in the world shouldn't be rocket science.

Just over five years ago, no solution allowed businesses to scale globally with a single end-to-end connectivity service. In 2019, 1oT became the first company to launch a telecom-independent eSIM (eUICC) for IoT and M2M.

Since then, things have been on a steady upward trajectory. In 2020, we experienced a 3x growth in our global customer base with the introduction of new telecom partners.

In recognition of 1oT's 5th birthday, we would like to share the biggest highlights of the five years so far.

World's first carrier-independent eSIM for IoT in 2019

In 2016, the GSMA unveiled the specifications for eSIM (eUICC). It was the first time in 25 years that there was an innovation for SIM cards.

1oT saw this as an opportunity to transform IoT cellular connectivity, as eSIM technology with remote provisioning offers excellent flexibility for IoT manufacturers and service providers.

Three years later, 1oT launched an end-to-end service that enables IoT companies to scale globally faster and have confidence that their standardised products can connect anywhere in the world.

Now we have everything needed to run a global IoT business in a single service:

  • 1 eSIM with the freedom to swap carriers over the air
  • 1 interface to manage SIM cards and connectivity
  • 1 invoice for all SIMs, no matter where they are located

Becoming the market leader in providing connectivity to the scooter sharing industry

Over the last two years, we have established ourselves as the leading cellular connectivity provider for the scooter sharing industry.

The eScooter sector is one of the fastest-growing IoT sectors. And we have shipped hundreds of thousands of SIMs across the US and Europe in a short period of time.

Our service enables these micromobility companies to quickly scale to new markets by standardising products with flexible and affordable mobile connectivity.

Recognised by the Telecommunications Industry

An important milestone for 1oT was the launch of a pilot project with Telia Estonia in 2017. Telia's customers managed their SIM cards through 1oT's self-service platform called 1oT Terminal as part of the pilot.

This showed us two things. Our SIM management platform, explicitly tailored to IoT and M2M, made a difference in the market. And two large companies were taking 1oT seriously, and our platform was telecom-ready.

With recent licencing deals with Elisa Finland and Estonia, over 1 million SIM cards are running on the 1oT connectivity management platform.


A few months ago, we also launched a SaaS-based IoT connectivity management platform for telecom companies. It is securely hosted on Amazon Web Services and seamlessly integrates with telecom companies' core systems. It delivers efficiency and reduces costs for telecom companies of all sizes.

Global footprint from small Estonia

Today, we can support IoT companies with their deployments in 190 countries. And over the years, 1oT (e)SIMs have travelled to over 120 countries. That's 2/3 of our total footprint.

As we mentioned earlier, our customer base had tripled in 2020, so we're confident that SIMs will soon be deployed in every single one of the 190 countries on our coverage list.

Where we are heading

In the five years that 1oT has grown globally, some things have remained constant - the drive to innovate.

We have a lot to tackle this year and next. Our most important task is to make sure we don't lose sight of the big picture and the reason we do it all.

We believe in flexible, global cellular connectivity. We believe that if we can realise the full potential of eSIM, cellular connectivity will be simpler and more robust, businesses will scale faster, and incredible new products can be developed and brought to market.

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