Dynamic SIM Allocation™
The new standard for activating SIM cards
Wireless operators today need to be even more
competitive than ever. It is becoming increasingly
difficult to maintain and grow market share, revenues
and margins.
In most markets prepaid users are the overwhelming
majority, and operators rely on indirect sales channels
to serve them. These channels can only support
relatively simple services, and pre-provisioning of SIM
cards means changing the services on offer to new
customers is slow. The result is competition on price
alone.
By introducing Dynamic SIM Allocation™ (DSA) in
2008, Evolving Systems challenged established SIM
distribution and activation practices. Chosen by
wireless operators across Asia, Europe, Africa, and
Central and Latin America, DSA has become the new
standard for activating SIM cards.
DSA enables operators to sell any product in any
channel, with unprecedented scope for
personalization at the point of first use, and greater
engagement with existing customers to help reduce
churn.
At the same time, DSA improves efficiency in
resource utilization and saves significant cost across
the network and supply chains.
Evolving Systems, Inc. 9777 Pyramid Court, Suite 100, Englewood, CO 80112 USA +1 303 802 1000 www.evolving.com
Problems with Current Practice
When operators were first building their prepaid
customer bases, almost all of them adopted a pre-
provisioning process for prepaid SIMs. This was the
simplest way to ensure a simple sales process, in the
widest range of retail channels. While there was little
complexity or variation in handsets or services, it was
an ideal solution.
In today’s market though, pre-provisioning presents a
number of problems:
 The market demands a wider range of products
and services. Products are defined by the way
the SIM card is provisioned, so operators can
only meet this demand by having more and more
SIM types which increases retail complexity.
 Introducing new products takes time and money,
as new SIM cards need to be provisioned,
packaged and distributed.
 It is impossible to ensure that each customer is
offered the right products for their device. More
diverse devices, SIM card mobility, and the rise
of SIM-only deals all mean SIM cards end up in
the wrong devices for the services provisioned.
 Pre-provisioning makes it impossible to offer
even a simple personalization like a choice of
telephone number, since everything is fixed well
before the SIM card reaches the end-user.
 Lack of personalization and engagement reduces
customer loyalty and leads to high churn.
 Pre-provisioning is wasteful of resources such as
numbers and network database capacity. This
gets worse as the number of devices and
services grows.
While these problems remain, operators are forced to
compete on price for basic services, instead of
competing through differentiation. The result is ever-
decreasing revenue and margins.
Dynamic SIM Allocation
Operators using DSA can address their market in a
different way – competing through differentiation and
driving revenues up, instead of competing on price
and driving them down.
Choice and personalization
For the first time, users can be offered a full range of
choices and personalization options through their
device when they first use it and throughout its
lifetime.
The DSA on-device dialogue is device-aware and
location-aware, ensuring the user is always presented
with appropriate and relevant choices:
 Language choice for the on-device dialogue
 Choice of product, package or tariff – including
prepaid or contract products
 Choice of number, including vanity-number
search and free or chargeable numbers
 Targeted and relevant promotions and value
added services
DSA automatically delivers the right on-device user
experience depending on the device used: text-
based menus on feature phones, or a browser on
smartphones and mobile broadband devices.
On-device personalization is not limited to the point of
first use. Users can use DSA through their device to
make changes to their service at any time.
The operator can define new products and other
options to be offered to new users, without having to
ship new SIM packages to retailers.
Market and channel feedback
DSA provides the operator with information that
allows them to manage marketing campaigns and
engage more closely with their customers.
 Sales data on specific products and services by
region, channel or retailer – enables better
forecasting and fine-tuning of offers.
 Take-up rates on promotions across different
target customer groups and regions – enables
campaigns to be tested, compared, and
improved.
 Registration information can be collected from
previously anonymous prepaid users –
supporting direct marketing of additional services
through other channels.
Efficiency improvements
Activating SIM cards dynamically on first use makes
the whole SIM distribution process more efficient and
flexible.
 SIM cards are not linked with any product or
region until they are first used, which means SIM
stock can be moved freely to meet demand.
 The number of SIM types a carrier has to support
is greatly reduced, reducing packaging costs and
the risk of wastage.
 Costly resources such as numbers and network
database capacity are not allocated to inactive
SIMs, reducing costs and improving margins.
Operator Benefits
Compete by offering choice
Operators can differentiate their service, by offering a
range of personalization options to any customer.
Personalizations offered are relevant to the user’s
device, location and other circumstances.
Customers are attracted by enhanced services, not
just low price, and revenues are increased.
Any product in any channel
About Evolving Systems®
Evolving Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ-EVOL) is a provider
of software and services to more than 60 network
operators in over 40 countries worldwide. Its portfolio
includes market-leading products for Activation,
Dynamic SIM Allocation, Number Management,
Mobile Data Enablement and M2M. Founded in 1985,
the Company has headquarters in Englewood,
Colorado, with offices in the United Kingdom, India
and Malaysia. Further information is available on the
web at www.evolving.com.

Voice, data or mobile broadband; prepaid or contract

© Evolving Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Evolving
– any product can be sold through operator-owned or Systems and Dynamic SIM Allocation are registered
independent retail channels. trademarks of Evolving Systems, Inc. or Evolving Systems
Limited in the United States and/or other countries.
The on-device personalization process supports more
choices than independent channels can
conventionally offer.

Better market data

Direct feedback on the success of products and

promotions, from the choices made by users
themselves, enable better targeting of future products
and services.

Reduce customer churn

Operators can continue to offer new personalization

options to users via their device after activation. This
reduces the risk of customers churning away to other
carriers.

Efficiency improvements

Moving from pre-provisioning to just-in-time allocation

of costly resources at the point of first use instead of
weeks or months earlier can significantly reduce
customer acquisition costs.

Making SIMs independent of products in the

distribution chain means stock can be more easily
moved to meet demand.

Evolving Systems, Inc. 9777 Pyramid Court, Suite 100, Englewood, CO 80112 USA +1 303 802 1000 www.evolving.com