The SIM card inventory is a flexible tool that enables the MVNOs and LTE service providers to bulk upload SIM cards via the administrator web interface and therefore, easily manage them.
The SIM card inventory is used for adding, viewing, removing, and assigning SIM cards to accounts. Its convenient search function makes it possible to quickly find the desired record by simply inputting a key word.
SIM cards can be added to a SIM card inventory either manually, i.e. one at a time, or can be bulk uploaded from a file. See the file structure in the Upload SIM cards chapter.
Once a SIM card is added to a SIM card inventory, its status is Free. This means that this SIM card is not yet assigned to any account. When a SIM card is assigned, its status is In Use. Note that a SIM card having an In Use status cannot be removed from the SIM card inventory until it is first unassigned.
When a SIM card is assigned to an account, it acquires the MSISDN value that equals the account ID of the linked account. Therefore, both the account and the assigned SIM card are now connected and PortaBilling can automatically provision the information into HSS/HLR by using the External System Provisioning Framework.
With the increasing need to manage and maintain large numbers of SIM cards and provision them into external systems, this SIM card inventory is becoming a great tool for LTE service providers and MVNOs.
