SIM card shipments will grow 5.32 percent to 5.2 billion units in 2014, said ABI Research.

LTE, NFC, and M2M are considered the trends for the next few years.

India, China, and Saudi Arabia are among the last countries to undergo ID registration regulations. Indian SIM market has stabilized in 2014 and steady growth is expected from 2015 onwards, said ABI Research.

Two E.U. vendors — Bluefish and ST Incard — have increased their shares significantly in 2014, while the combined market shares of E.U. companies including the big four vendors — Gemalto, Oberthur Technologies, Morpho, and G&D — were 75 percent for H1 2014.

Asian SIM vendors — Eastcompeace, Watchdata, Datang, Wuhan Tianyu, and Kona —  are struggling to maintain their market shares. Overall, the combined market share for Asian SIM vendors was 18 percent in H1 2014.

For the United States, Japan, and South Korea transition to LTE was achieved smoothly while Africa and India are experiencing difficulties in their attempt to invest and upgrade their current network infrastructure.

Global analysis in 2014 suggests 83 percent increase in LTE technology, 153 percent increase in SWP Secure Element SIM shipments, and 63 percent increase in MFF shipments since 2013.

Baburajan K
[email protected]