In addition to the physical SIM option, Celona also offers the eSIM (embedded subscriber identity module) capability for the devices to authenticate and authorize access to the Celona private cellular network. Celona eSIMs are compatible with both 4G and 5G networks.
There are multiple ways to onboard the eSIM onto the device
Using an individual QR (quick-response) code for each eSIM. This process works well for onboarding individual devices. The self-service workflow for downloading eSIMs via QR code is available in Orchestrator UI.
Via the MDM (Mobile Device Management) platform used by enterprises to manage corporate owned and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) mobile devices. This option is ideal for the enterprises managing large number of devices. Currently, MDM workflow is only available via APIs.
Detailed instructions for onboarding eSIMs with both options are provided in this article.
Note:
Celona eSIMs can be re-used on a different device if needed. In order to re-assign the eSIM to a new device, an active eSIM would first need to be de-activated in Orchestrator and deleted from the existing device. Once these steps are completed, the eSIM will be ready for assignment to another device. It is not possible to re-assign the eSIM without first deleting it from the original device.
Celona Orchestrator UI provides details on the state of each eSIM (Available, Downloaded, Installed, etc.).
Onboarding eSIMs via QR Codes
Orchestrator Devices section provides information on the total number of eSIMs Available for download vs number of Used eSIMs. The Available eSIMs quantity is calculated based on the number of AP subscriptions purchased by customer: by default each Indoor subscription includes 20 eSIMs, each Outdoor subscription includes 40 eSIMs. If needed, extra eSIMs outside of the default quantities included with AP subscriptions can be purchased separately.
Downloading additional eSIMs
The "eSIM QR CODE" button allows user to download additional eSIMs based on the total Available quantity.
Note that this button will be grayed out in the following cases:
There are no Available eSIMs
All Available eSIMs have been used
If there are eSIMs Available for download, clicking on "eSIM QR CODE" button will open a dialog window as shown below.
Prior to downloading additional eSIMs, please remember to check existing inventory of eSIMs that have been previously downloaded but yet not assigned to any device. The count of unassigned eSIMs in the inventory will also be highlighted in the info bar within the same dialog window. Clicking the redirection link within this info bar will automatically open the list with unassigned eSIMs within the inventory.
Individual QR codes for the unassigned eSIMs can be retrieved using inline action menu as shown below. Upon clicking "Download QR Code" button, the zip folder with QR code image will get downloaded locally on the user's computer. The QR code will need to get scanned from the user's device in order to assign it.
If there are no unassigned eSIMs left in the inventory and more eSIMs need to be downloaded, required quantities can be entered in the dialog window. Option to download eSIMs for US region (PLMN ID 315010) and/or region outside US (PLMN ID 999503) will be provided based on the purchased AP Subscriptions.
Upon clicking the "Download" button, the requested quantity of additional eSIMs will get added into the inventory.
Note that only 25 eSIMs of each type (US and non-US) can be downloaded per transaction. If more eSIMs are required, the above steps would need to be repeated multiple times. An error message will appear if a value greater than 25 is entered in the dialog window.
Onboarding eSIMs via MDM
Celona has an integration capability with generally any MDM platform to manage Celona eSIMs for the fleet of enterprise devices. Following section describes the workflow on how an enterprise can onboard supported MDM devices with Celona eSIMs via APIs.
High-level Flow
The only input required to execute the flow is the list of device EIDs (Embedded Identity Document) downloaded from the MDM system, intended device names, and optionally - the list of eSIM ICCIDs (Integrated Circuit Card Identification Number) corresponding to each device (if no ICCIDs are provided, the mapping will be assigned automatically). Once the API flow is executed, Celona Orchestrator will update the mapping between eSIM ICCIDs and device EIDs and push configuration onto Celona Edge Cluster and Celona SM-DP+ (Subscription Manager Data Preparation) service.
The eSIM will get activated and named, the device will get authorized to enroll via eSIM using credentials, identifier and SM-DP+ URL given to the device. The device will then communicate with the SM-DP+ service for registration and authentication / authorization for connectivity.
Detailed eSIM Onboarding Process via MDM
Prior to eSIM onboarding, the CSO account will be pre-populated with eSIMs identified by ICCID and Celona will have the eSIMs available for assignment on the SM-DP+. The number of available eSIMs depends on the number of purchased AP subscriptions.
In the MDM, the Customer needs to manage for each device: EID, Device Name, SM-DP+ URL. The first step in the process requires enterprise IT team to export or generate a CSV (comma-separated values) list of devices from the MDM database, either from within the MDM or other automation / scripting. The CSV file needs to contain following columns
EID - Mandatory field. Required to create the mapping between the eSIMs and specific devices.
Name - Mandatory field. Provided names will be automatically assigned to the onboarded devices in Orchestrator.
ICCID - Optional field. If this field is provided, then device EIDs will map to requested ICCIDs (example: if an existing eSIM needs to be re-assigned from one device to another); otherwise, available eSIM ICCIDs will be assigned automatically in order.
Sample CSV data with one device entry
% cat eid_upload_noiccid.csv
EID,Name
890<redacted>,iphone11SE
Celona API call needs to be performed with the CSV file as a parameter.
Syntax for the API call
curl --location 'https://cso.celona.io/v1/api/rsp/esims/assign-eid?customer_id=<customer_id>' \
--header 'X-API-Key: <API_KEY>' \
--form 'eidFile=@"/path_to_file/eid_upload_noiccid.csv"' \
--form 'customer_id="<customer_id>"'Sample run
curl --location 'https://cso.celona.io/v1/api/rsp/esims/assign-eid?customer_id=10<REDACTED>' \
--header 'X-API-Key: $2a$04$xyl<REDACTED>' \
--form 'eidFile=@"./eid_upload_noiccid.csv"' \
--form 'customer_id="10<REDACTED>"'
{"code":202,"data":{"request_id":"d3de3a94-5107-4c9e-a2e7-<REDACTED>7","server_url":"https://sm-v4-072-d-gtm.pr.go-esim.com"},"error":"","success":true}Required parameters
X-API-Key: this is your Celona API key
eidFile: this is the CSV file generated from the MDM
customer_id: this is your Celona customer ID
The SM-DP+ URL is
https://sm-v4-072-d-gtm.pr.go-esim.com
Once the device is powered up and has its' MDM profile updated, it will automatically connect to the Celona SM-DP+ server to authenticate the eSIM to the device.
After onboarding, the customer is expected to activate and set the Device Group, if needed. On the device itself, especially for Apple devices, the customer will have to manage setting cellular priority, per app settings, etc. More details on the Device Group management are available in this article.
Note that the API call with CSV is asynchronous. A “success” simply means that the request was accepted, but for many devices it may take some time to process. The request_id in the API call response can be used in a future request for status:
% curl --location 'https://cso.celona.io/v1/api/rsp/esims/eid-status?request_id=d3de3a94-5107-4c9e-a2e7-<REDACTED>7' \
--header 'X-API-Key: $2a$04$xyl<REDACTED>'
{"code":200,"data":{"configs":[{"eid":"890<REDACTED>","iccid":"8910<REDACTED>","name":"iphone11SE","status":"SUCCESS"}]},"error":"","success":true}
The SM-DP+ URL should be pushed to each device from within the MDM.
With the CSV data above, Celona will automatically select an available eSIM and assign provided Device Name.
JAMF MDM Profile on Apple iPhone 11 SE
Celona eSIM activated on Apple iPhone 11 SE, as “Personal”. The name of the cellular network can be updated to a custom value, for example “Celona”.
Please reach out to support@celona.io in case of any additional questions.