In today’s hyper-connected world, mobile network operators (MNOs) face unprecedented demands for resilient connectivity across a vast array of applications—from mission-critical Telecare to applications that on the face of it don’t appear so critical, such as payment terminals and rentable scooters. The need for uninterrupted, real-time connections is no longer a luxury but a necessity for businesses and consumers alike.

Addressing the Surge in Network Outages: How rSIM Can Help MNOs Differentiate Their Offering

Over the past five years, the frequency and severity of mobile network outages in the U.S. have significantly increased. For instance, AT&T’s February 2024 outage affected more than 125 million devices across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This nationwide disruption lasted over 12 hours and blocked 92 million phone calls, including 25,000 emergency 911 attempts. The outage stemmed from a network expansion error, where a misconfigured process caused the network to disconnect all devices (AT&T Newsroom)(TechRadar).

The July 2022 Rogers outage in Canada had a similarly catastrophic impact. It crippled the nation’s communications infrastructure for over 15 hours, leaving millions without access to banking services, internet, and emergency hotlines. These incidents highlight the growing vulnerability of mobile networks to widespread service failures.

These examples, along with recent outages like the Optus outage in Australia (2023) and the 2022 KDDI outage—one of the largest in its history, which lasted nearly 86 hours and affected more than 30 million users across Japan—illustrate the urgent need for resilient network solutions. As businesses and critical services become increasingly reliant on constant connectivity, these failures underscore the importance of implementing robust, proactive measures to ensure uninterrupted service.

Ofcom data from the UK further supports this trend, showing that outages peak during summer holidays, when network usage is at its highest. In contrast, the lowest outage incidents occur when MNOs enforce change freezes, highlighting the delicate balance required to maintain uptime across vast infrastructure.

With increasing dependence on uninterrupted connectivity for everything from daily communication to IoT applications, MNOs are under pressure to provide “always-on” service to their customers. But how can MNOs fortify their networks to avoid the inevitable — especially when large-scale failures are becoming more frequent and harder to predict?

This is where rSIM® comes in.

How rSIM Can Differentiate an MNOs Offering

MNOs are facing a fundamental challenge: connectivity downtime. Even with the most robust network designs, unexpected outages are bound to occur. But with rSIM’s second line of defence, MNOs can offer their customers a unique proposition — always-on, real-time connectivity with automated backup options that provide seamless transitions during outages. By bringing intelligence directly to the very edge of the operator’s network, rSIM proactively monitors and manages connections, enabling it to detect disruptions and immediately trigger a switch to an alternative network. This ensures that even in the face of downtime, the connection remains resilient and uninterrupted.

Key Advantages of rSIM:

1. Autonomous Connection Testing
   Each rSIM performs direct, autonomous connectivity tests from the SIM itself, ensuring that any potential connectivity issues are identified before they disrupt critical operations.

   • Real-time reporting provides transparency and visibility into every connection test, enhancing confidence in network resilience.

2. Autonomous Outage Detection
   When the primary network experiences a loss of connection, rSIM immediately activates its resilience mechanism. The device is given sufficient time to roam through multiple available networks, allowing it to attempt reconnection:

   • Real-time failure detection allows MNOs to swiftly identify network vulnerabilities and optimise performance across their infrastructure. By leveraging polling data from millions of distributed end-points across the network, rSIM provides detailed insights into network performance. This not only helps operators pinpoint weak spots but also offers the potential to detect early warning signs of network failures before they occur. With this proactive visibility, MNOs can address issues pre-emptively, enhancing network resilience and minimising the risk of widespread connectivity disruptions.

3. Autonomous Switching
   If roaming fails, rSIM offers an additional layer of protection through backup profiles stored directly on the SIM itself. These profiles are pre-installed from independent mobile operators, enabling an automatic switch to an alternative network without any need for manual intervention. This seamless transition ensures that connectivity is swiftly restored. Given the low probability of two independent operators experiencing simultaneous outages, rSIM ensures continuous connectivity, safeguarding business-critical operations from network disruptions and maintaining the resilience required in today’s always-on, connected environments.

   • rSIMs connectivity management platform

   • allows for real-time monitoring of connectivity and profile status. Every connectivity test performed by each rSIM is displayed within the platform, offering enhanced support capabilities for users. This detailed visibility provides early warning signals for operators, enabling them to identify potential issues before they escalate into larger disruptions. By providing both real-time insights and historical data, the platform empowers operators to proactively manage their network and deliver a more reliable service to their customers.

As Mobile Network Operators face increasing challenges from outages, several forward-thinking operators have supported rSIM by providing their profiles to enhance network resilience. Deutsche Telekom IoT and Tele2 IoT were among the first global connectivity leaders to supply their profiles for use on rSIM’s patented technology, enabling more robust and reliable connectivity for customers. This collaboration demonstrates a commitment to improving mobile infrastructure by leveraging multi-operator capabilities, ensuring greater continuity and reducing the risk of service disruptions.

Unlocking Operational Efficiency

The distributed resilience offered by rSIM shifts the burden of stability away from central single core networks and to the edge of the network — you could not bring network intelligence any closer to the devices and customers. This not only reduces core infrastructure load but also mitigates the risk of signalling storms, which can overwhelm systems when too many SIMs try to reconnect simultaneously after an outage.

For MNOs, fewer outages and minimised impact translate to reduced operational costs:

• Reduced Support Calls: With seamless switching between networks, customers don’t have to contact support when experiencing a temporary network failure. This frees up MNOs’ resources and minimises disruption to end users.

• Reduced Churn and Increased Customer Satisfaction: Consistent connectivity prevents service interruptions that could harm customer trust, helping MNOs to retain clients and bolster their brand reputation.

• Cost-Effective Resilience: The autonomous functions of rSIM offer an economical way to ensure that network stays online without necessitating heavy investment in redundancy across core infrastructures.

The Future of Mobile Networks

As the data clearly shows, network outages are not just an operational inconvenience—they are a growing challenge that must be addressed proactively. In a world increasingly reliant on IoT devices and real-time connectivity, MNOs must ensure that their networks remain operational under all conditions.

By integrating rSIM, MNOs can differentiate their IoT offering and build resilience across their network, ensuring that customer satisfaction remains high, even when facing the inevitable challenges of outages.

To learn more about how rSIM can support your MNO’s business and technical objectives, visit our dedicated page here or download our Whitepaper: