The Russian government is discussing new anti-fraud and anti-spam measures that could affect SIM cards used in the internet of things and virtual eSIMs. The newspaper Kommersant reported this on June 23, citing sources.
According to the paper’s sources, officials want to place M2M SIM cards (Machine-to-Machine), which are used in internet-of-things devices, into a separate category. Additional identification requirements for users of such cards may also be introduced.
The measures under discussion, the sources said, include a ban on transmitting voice traffic and SMS messages through M2M SIM cards, as well as a ban on Russian citizens registering eSIMs while outside the country.
Kommersant writes that these proposals could be included in a third package of anti-fraud amendments to existing legislation. No final decision has been made so far.
Sources and experts cited by the newspaper say the market for SIM cards used in internet-of-things devices is currently operating in a gray zone, and that such cards are also being used for spam calls.
The Russian Ministry of Digital Development said only that it continues to combat online fraud and declined to discuss the details of the proposed measures. VimpelCom (the Beeline brand), MegaFon, and T2 refused to comment, while MTS did not respond to a request.
As of August 2025, Russia had just over 300 million active SIM cards, and about 20% of them were in the M2M segment. eSIM technology, developed in the mid-2010s, remained unavailable in Russia for a long time because the FSB opposed its rollout; it was launched in 2019, and mass sales began in 2020. By July 2023, according to the figures cited in the report, Russia had three million virtual subscribers, while the number of eSIMs exceeded 255 million, 14% of them used in the internet of things.