Use Multiple numbers in one sim - BlackBerry’s virtual SIM solution is their secret weapon
The ability to provision
nine numbers on one SIM card will make life incredibly simple for enterprises,
power users, travelers and consumers who hate carrying more than one phone
In September, BlackBerry acquired the SIM virtualization company Movirtu. The move didn’t catch the attention of the media but it was very much in tune with the company’s enhanced focus on apps and services, particularly those meant for enterprises and business users. The latest addition to that is SIM card virtualization.
The Canadian company
will leverage Movirtu’s technology to make it easier for enterprises to manage
devices in BYOD (bring-your-own device) and COPE (corporate-owned, personally
enabled) environments.
So what does SIM
virtualization do? In a nutshell, it allows multiple phone numbers to be active
on a single SIM card.
The technology will come
to India later this year, and BlackBerry says it’s currently working with
telecom operators to set up the framework for this to work seamlessly.
What is the benefit of
SIM virtualization?
1.You don’t need to
carry multiple phones or juggle multiple SIM cards
2.You can have different
numbers for voice calls, data connections, even roaming, on the same phone
3.Enterprises will find
it easier to activate and deactivate corporate virtual connections for new
employees as well as those who leave
4.Users will also be
able to manage their billing better, as charges can be billed separately
5.Enterprises can apply
corporate usage policies on the business number.
Up to nine virtual
numbers can be activated on one SIM. The interface for using this service will
be an app that will be available for BlackBerry, Android and iOS smartphones.
With one click, a user can add another number as their virtual number on the
same SIM card.
For example, let’s say
you have one Vodafone connection as the primary number for official use, and a
second Vodafone number for personal use. This means two SIM cards and two
phones to manage. Even if you have a dual-SIM phone, it is still a bit of a
hassle. With SIM virtualization, you can set up the second number as a virtual
number on the primary SIM card and use one phone for both connections.
Second, even if you
don’t have another SIM card, the app can create a virtual number for you—users
will get to choose a number of their preference initially, but if someone else
already owns it, alternative options will be suggested. Enterprises may find
this service extremely relevant—when a new employee joins, they can simply
create a virtual corporate number on the person’s existing SIM, with separate
billing, and without the hassle of managing SIM cards and phones. When the
employee leaves the company, the virtual number can be deactivated quickly,
again without the hassle of recovering and handling hardware.
The big advantage is
that billing and usage can be separated. For example, you could use one number
for voice and SMS, and another for data or national roaming perhaps. Once the
app is installed and activated, it provides intricate control over which
connection each action uses—you can choose one connection for phone calls,
another for browsing the Web. So, if your company says they will pay voice-call
and SMS-use bills for your official number, you can easily turn off the data
plan on that and use the second SIM for a 4G/3G/2G connection.
But there are certain
limitations dictated by the Union government’s telecom rules. First, if your
primary SIM card is from one operator, virtual numbers of the same operator
must be activated on that. So, if you have an Airtel SIM card on which you want
to activate some virtual numbers, those must also be activated and billed by
Airtel.
What we aren’t entirely
sure of is how the virtual numbers will be activated since every new mobile
phone connection here requires a complete KYC (know-your-customer) verification
process. Perhaps mobile operators will utilize the user identity verified with
the primary connection to verify and activate virtual numbers too.
This is most certainly
poised to be a big development. In addition, its availability on almost every
popular smartphone makes this flexible enough to be used with any device a user
may be carrying. What’s needed is a simple activation process—hopefully this
will be a more streamlined one than the verification and activation processes a
user must deal with when activating a new SIM card.
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