The GSMA telecommunications group this weekend said it will pause work on the eSIM standard while the U.S. Justice Department completes its investigation over the technology.
The Justice Department alleges that AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and the GSMA have been colluding to make it more difficult for consumers to take advantage of the benefit of eSIMs.
eSIMs act as an electronic version of the physical SIM cards most phones use to identify the subscriber on the network. The original idea behind the cards was to make it easier for consumers to switch network providers via software.
Apple and other companies complained to the U.S. government that AT&T, Verizon, and the GSMA are in fact doing the opposite, and making it more difficult for eSIM devices to be used on competing networks.
Apple uses its own Apple SIM, which works like an eSIM, in some iPads.
Verizon said the inquiry was “much ado about nothing.” AT&T and Apple have not commented on the matter.
