Arab Advisors Group has released its latest research report, The eSIM Landscape across Arab Cellular Markets, offering the most comprehensive dissection to date of eSIM availability, accessibility, and adoption across 19 Arab countries. Unlike surface-level snapshots, this report benchmarks the region’s evolution between 2019 and 2025, capturing the multifaceted changes in availability, activation processes, and device compatibility. It equips telecom executives with competitive benchmarks to refine offerings, device manufacturers with market readiness insights to align product launches, and regulators with comparative policy models to expand adoption. Digital transformation leaders gain guidance on integrating eSIMs into multi-device strategies.
The eSIM ecosystem in the MENA region has undergone a major transformation, with 36 more operators offering eSIM services in 2025 than in 2019. This expansion goes beyond sheer numbers—operators have broadened accessibility across postpaid, prepaid, and corporate segments, streamlined activation channels, and increased device compatibility. Arab Advisors Group’s new report delivers the region’s only dual-year benchmark, providing a detailed dissection of eSIM evolution across every licensed mobile operator in 19 Arab countries. It equips telecom operators with competitive intelligence to optimize rollout strategies, guides device manufacturers in aligning launches with market readiness, supports regulators in benchmarking policy effectiveness, and enables investors focused on connectivity and digital infrastructure to identify high-growth, regulation-aligned opportunities in one of the Arab world’s most pivotal enablers of digitization.
“eSIM availability has surged across the Arab world, with 36 more operators offering the service in 2025 compared to 2019. Yet, a small number still impose limitations from restricting eSIM access to specific subscriber segments, to narrowing device compatibility or limiting activation to select channels” said Hiba Rabadi, Managing Director at Arab Advisors Group. “Our research goes beyond tracking availability, we detail how operators differentiate access for new versus existing subscribers, the mix of online and in-store activations, ID requirements for citizens versus foreigners, and how fees are applied for new eSIM activations and SIM swaps. By benchmarking 2019 against 2025, we reveal exactly how operator strategies have evolved to meet the region’s demand for seamless, device-agnostic connectivity.”
What sets Arab Advisors Group apart is our ability to go beyond generic market overviews, delivering region-specific intelligence rooted in two decades of telecom research leadership in the Arab world. We work market by market, operator by operator, building our analysis on direct verification from primary sources. By pairing this on-the-ground expertise with a unique dual-year benchmark of 2019 and 2025, we reveal how eSIM adoption has spread, as well as the strategic shifts shaping its future. This depth and precision are why industry leaders turn to Arab Advisors Group when they need clarity, context, and actionable insight on the region’s most critical digital transformations.
Our report: The eSIM Landscape across Arab Cellular Markets, which was released in July 2025 to Arab Advisors Group’s communication research subscribers, answers the below questions:
• Which telecom operators in the MENA region provide eSIM services?
• How do cellular operators in the MENA region structure eSIM availability and pricing across postpaid, prepaid, and corporate subscribers?
• How do cellular operators provide eSIM access to new subscribers compared to existing subscribers through SIM swaps?
• How are eSIM activations facilitated by operators across online and in-shop channels in the MENA region?
• What identification documents are required for eSIM activation among cellular operators in the MENA region? and how do these requirements differ between citizens and foreigners?
• What are the fee structures for new eSIM activations and SIM swaps among cellular operators in the MENA region?
• What is the range and compatibility of devices supporting eSIM technology among cellular operators in the region?
• How did eSIM offerings across the MENA region evolve from 2019 to 2025?
Source: https://arabadvisors.com/news/the-esim-surge-36-more-mena-operators-offering-the-service-since-2019
