Author: Michel Zwijnenberg | IoT Expert & Director Indirect Channels, Melita
Picture a parcel locker. A customer scans the QR code, and nothing happens. The locker’s SIM connects to a single mobile network, and that network is not available. The customer does not blame the operator. They blame the parcel company — and may never come back.
As one parcel locker operator put it to me: “In the parcel locker business, when a client scans the QR code and the locker does not open, the client has very little patience. The value of higher uptime is much higher than the value of an IoT SIM with a bundle. You get into another type of discussion.”
Swap the locker for a cold-chain sensor, an alarm panel or a flood warning, and a dropped connection costs far more: a spoiled shipment, a security breach, a late evacuation.
Megabytes are a commodity. Resilience is not.
When is communication critical?
Criticality is a scale, defined by what happens when the connection fails:
| Level | Impact of failure | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Life-critical | Loss of life | Emergency dispatch, first-responder radio, bodycams, ambulance telemetry |
| 2. Safety-critical | Injury, damage, supply failure | Pumping stations, pipelines, grid monitoring, flood early warning |
| 3. Operational-critical | Economic loss, lost customers | Parcel lockers, payment terminals, alarm panels, cold chain |
| 4. Non-critical | Inconvenience | Consumer data, office email |
Level 1 has two layers. Command voice for police, fire and ambulance runs on PMR such as TETRA, migrating to MCX — mission-critical services over 4G and 5G. Both will run in parallel for years. But the data around it, such as live video, drones and telemetry, cannot travel over PMR. It already runs on commercial mobile networks.
Levels 2 and 3 mostly run on a single mobile network too. Only level 4 is truly price-per-megabyte territory.
Why the megabyte conversation misses the point
A bodycam streams megabits; an alarm panel sends kilobytes. Both fail the business when the connection drops — or when the connection is there but the IP packets don’t come through. The real costs are a technician driving out, a missed alarm, an SLA penalty or a lost customer — often more than years of connectivity fees.
In my experience, once uptime is on the table, customers are willing to pay for it and the number of megabytes becomes much less relevant. The buyer changes too: from procurement to operations and risk managers.
Using the new IoT eSIM standard to build resilient connectivity
Redundancy is not resilience if the failover never happens. Resilient mobile connectivity rests on four building blocks:
- Two independent networks. Profiles from two operators, each on its own core. No single home network to depend on — unlike roaming-based failover.
- Local profiles where possible. A local operator profile allows more control over quality and priority than a roaming SIM.
- A closed loop in the device or SIM. Monitor the connection, evaluate, decide, switch and verify — without waiting for a network that may be down.
- SGP.32 for lifetime control. The GSMA eSIM specification for IoT lets profiles be managed remotely over a device’s decade-long life.
On the network side, 3GPP standards now define priority, pre-emption and network slicing for mission-critical use. Resilience across networks complements priority on one.
What this means for MVNOs
MVNOs are not tied to one network, so resilience fits their DNA. The closed loop above is also where the device conversation happens: SIM recognition, APN settings, VoLTE and VoWiFi, and the entitlement and configuration tools that decide whether a failover actually works — the exact ground we cover in the device panel at MVNO Nation Europe. Many more use cases are critical than customers realise. Ask what a failure costs, not what a SIM costs.
The parcel locker customer never asks how many megabytes were used. They only notice when the door stays shut.
Continue the conversation at MVNO Nation Europe 2026
I’ll be moderating the panel “The device advantage: how can devices help drive B2B and IoT growth in Europe?“ on Day 2, Wednesday 4 November at 9:45, and I’ll be in Alicante for all three days, 3–5 November. If resilient connectivity — or what a failure costs your customers — is on your agenda, come and find me.
