The Russian government, as part of the fight against fraud and spam, is discussing a number of proposals designed to limit the circulation of SIM cards and SIM cards without physical media (), Kommersant newspaper reported on June 23, citing sources.
According to them, the government proposes:
- Allocating M2M (Machine to Machine) SIM cards used in IoT into a separate category,
- Provide additional identification for users of these SIM cards,
- Block the transmission of voice information and SMS messages from these SIM cards,
- It also prohibits Russians from registering an eSim card from abroad.
Such measures are supposed to be taken as part of the third package of amendments to anti-fraud legislation, but there is no concrete decision yet.
Sources and experts say that the market for SIM cards used in IoT is currently in a gray area and are being used for unwanted calls.
The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation said it continues to combat online fraud, but declined to talk about details. VimpelCom (Beeline brand), Megafon and T2 declined to comment; MTS did not respond to the request.
As of August 2025 in Russia There was Just over 300 million SIM cards are active. About 20% of these are M2M SIM cards, which are used in the Internet of Things.
eSim technology, created in the mid-2010s, has been around for a long time He was Not available in Russia, the FSB opposed its implementation. This technology was launched in 2019, and achieved huge sales He started In 2020. By July 2023 in Russia There was Three million virtual subscribers, while the number of electronic SIM cards exceeds 255 million (of which 14% is the Internet of Things).