At the USENIX Security Symposium, one of the most important conferences in the world on cybersecurity, this month (August 2025) a research was presented showing that a large part of the traffic through eSIM, in many countries around the world, actually passes through China Mobile, one of the leaders in telecommunications in China.
What does it mean? Simply that many eSIMs from the biggest providers on the market use the Chinese network to offer you connection, in fact making your data transit on Chinese servers, with all the concerns that come with it.
The news quickly spread online, published by major newspapers.
Although in some cases it triggered fear among users, most of the comments to this “revelation” were ironic in tone such as “in Beijing they know all the menus of the restaurants I’m visiting in California” and “Never mind, they knew which subway I was taking in New York”.
But are there alternatives to avoid having our data transit in China?
eSIM.sm: European security!
If the thought that your searches and personal data may pass through Chinese servers worries you, know that alternatives do exist!
The research presented at the USENIX Security Symposium focused on a small group of “big players in the eSIM market” (we will not name them for fairness), who indeed rely on China Mobile to offer good connection in many countries around the world.
We at eSIM.sm have chosen a different approach, to guarantee maximum confidentiality and security to our users.
The virtual SIMs of eSIM.sm are completely managed in Europe and the connection offered passes through European servers which are legally required to comply with high standards of security and privacy.
Obviously, if you are about to face a trip right to China and need an eSIM to stay connected, our China eSIMs will still be managed in Europe, but will rely on the operator China Mobile.
So don’t worry if on the destination page China eSIM you will see the name of the operator China Mobile!
In fact, to guarantee a fast and reliable connection, in the more than 150 countries covered by our service, we necessarily rely on local network operators (this is precisely the ultimate purpose of eSIMs, to bypass international roaming), but we repeat, with eSIM management always guaranteed from Europe.
Does this mean that you will ALWAYS be connected to the China Mobile network wherever you are in the world?
Obviously NOT.
In Albania we rely on Vodafone, in the United States on the local networks AT&T and Verizon, in Turkey on Turkcell Turkey and so on…
So with eSIM.sm the only case in which you could have to deal with Chinese networks is exclusively during a trip to China and in no other country!
