Kommersant: Russia mulls tighter controls on IoT SIM cards — and a ban on registering eSIMs from abroad

Source: Kommersant

Russia’s government is weighing a package of measures to tighten controls on SIM cards used in the Internet of Things and on eSims, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported on June 23, citing sources.

Among the proposals under discussion, sources said, are classifying M2M SIM cards (Machine-to-Machine) as a distinct category, imposing additional identification requirements on their users, barring voice calls and SMS messages from those cards, and prohibiting Russian citizens from registering eSIMs while abroad.

The measures could be folded into a third package of anti-fraud amendments to existing legislation, though no final decision has been made.

The market for SIM cards used in the Internet of Things operates in a gray zone and is being exploited for spam calling, sources and experts said.

Russia’s Digital Development Ministry stated that it continues to fight internet fraud but declined to discuss details. Vimpelcom (the brand behind the Russian mobile operator Beeline), the Russian mobile operator MegaFon, and the Russian mobile operator T2 declined to comment, while the Russian mobile operator MTS did not respond to a request for comment.

As of August 2025, Russia had just over 300 million active SIM cards. About 20% of them were M2M SIM cards used in the Internet of Things.

The eSIM technology, developed in the mid-2010s, remained unavailable in Russia for a long time; the FSB opposed its introduction. The technology launched in 2019, and mass sales began in 2020. By July 2023, Russia had three million virtual subscribers, while the number of eSIMs exceeded 255 million (14% of which were used in the Internet of Things).

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Kommersant: Russia mulls tighter controls on IoT SIM cards — and a ban on registering eSIMs from abroad

Internet of Things

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Kommersant: Russia mulls tighter controls on IoT SIM cards — and a ban on registering eSIMs from abroad

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