eSIM API FAQ
Is the Bird eSIM API available today?
Not yet. The carrier estate it runs on is already in production for messaging, and the eSIM product is being built on top of it. Talk to us now if you want to shape the pilot or be in the first group of workspaces to get access.
How does an evaluation start?
Share your current mobile spend, by market if you have it broken down that way. We come back with a rate comparison against your own footprint rather than a headline discount, and you decide from there whether a pilot is worth running.
Can we pilot without moving everything?
Yes, and that is the usual path. Pick one team, one region, or one use case, run it alongside what you have today, and compare the bills. Nothing has to consolidate onto a single contract until the numbers hold up.
Do employees need a specific handset?
The device has to support eSIM, which covers current iPhones, Google Pixels and most recent Android flagships. A handset with a physical SIM slot only cannot take a profile over the air, and that is the one hard requirement.
Can we keep our existing numbers?
Number portability depends on the market and on the losing operator, so there is no single answer. Bring your number inventory to the rate comparison and we will tell you which lines can port and which markets need a new number.
Which markets are covered?
Bird's carrier estate reaches more than 150 countries over 240 direct-to-carrier connections. Coverage for eSIM specifically is confirmed per market during the rate comparison, because a roaming footprint and a messaging footprint are not the same map.
How is this different from buying a travel eSIM app?
A consumer travel eSIM is bought by the traveller and expensed afterwards, which leaves the company with no policy and no visibility. Bird issues the eSIM centrally, enforces the spend cap and the streaming block at network level, and bills the company directly.
What can IT actually enforce?
Data caps per trip, expiry dates, country restrictions, and blocks on high-bandwidth traffic such as video streaming. Rules are set centrally and applied to every eSIM you issue, so the limit holds on the device rather than in a policy document.
When does the eSIM reach the employee?
Whenever you issue it. IT can send it ahead of a trip, or your travel tooling can trigger it off an itinerary. The install link comes back inline, so there is no SIM swap, no carrier store, and no expense claim afterwards.
Who can see usage while a trip is running?
IT and finance share one view of usage per employee, per trip, per market, and it updates during the trip. That timing is the point: a roaming number that only arrives with the invoice is a number nobody can act on.
What happens when someone travels outside the covered markets?
The eSIM does not connect there, and the employee falls back to whatever their normal line does. Bring your travel patterns to the rate comparison so any gap in the footprint shows up before a pilot rather than during one.
Does a corporate eSIM really change our security posture?
It removes the reason to join an untrusted network. Hotel, airport and cafe WiFi is shared and unmanaged, and VPN discipline is exactly as reliable as your most tired traveller. Data the employee already has keeps them on a licensed mobile network with carrier-grade encryption.
What is included in an employee plan?
Calls, texts, data and a local phone number in the market, with roaming built in. It is the employee's actual subscription rather than a travel add-on bolted onto someone else's contract.
How do plans get issued and revoked?
Activation and termination follow your HR and IT systems. A new joiner gets a number, a plan and an installed eSIM as part of day-one setup, and a leaver is deactivated the same way on the same day, so lines do not outlive the people they belong to.
Do we need a local entity in every market?
No. Bird holds the operator relationships, so you contract once and every market and line consolidates onto that agreement. There are no per-country negotiations and no renewal calendar of operator contracts to keep track of.
Who owns the phone numbers?
The company does. Because the profile is issued rather than handed over on a plastic SIM, a number does not walk out with the person who was using it, and a lost device can be cut off remotely.
Can different teams have different rules?
Yes. Spend caps are set per line, and policies can be scoped by team or by geography, so a sales team that lives on the road and an office team that rarely travels do not have to share one limit.
Does the API use the same auth as the rest of Bird?
Yes. One API key covers eSIM alongside Email, SMS, WhatsApp, Voice and the rest, with the same idempotency contract, the same error envelope and the same signed webhook shape. If you have integrated one Bird channel, most of this is already written.
What does issuing an eSIM look like in code?
Four steps: create a recipient keyed to an ID you already have, issue the eSIM with a region, a data size and an expiry, deliver the install link that comes back inline, then react to usage webhooks. The overview page carries the flagship sample.
How do we deliver the install link to a customer?
However suits your product. The link comes back in the response, so you can render it as a QR code, send it in an email, or hand it straight to your own app.
Can we build top-ups and upsells on this?
That is what the usage webhooks are for. They drive your own logic, whether that is a warning at eighty percent, a top-up prompt, or an offer for a larger bundle.
Can Bird stay invisible to our customers?
Yes. On the embedded model you buy wholesale per gigabyte and set the retail price your customers see, so the connectivity appears as part of your product.
What does it cost?
There are three ways to buy and one agreement behind them. Roaming data is priced per gigabyte and tiered by volume, employee plans are a flat rate per line per month, and embedded eSIM is wholesale per gigabyte with retail set by you. Share your current mobile spend and we will send a rate comparison against it.
Is there a platform fee or a seat fee?
No. There is no platform fee, no seat fee, and no minimum commit to start.
Why are the rates not published on the site?
Because a single published number would be wrong for almost everyone. Rates depend on which markets you actually use and at what volume, so the honest version is a comparison against your own footprint.
Why is this cheaper than our operator's enterprise plan?
Sourcing, not a negotiated discount. Bird holds the telco relationships directly, so there is no aggregation layer taking a margin on every gigabyte, and each market is bought on its own merits instead of averaged into one blended global deal.
How does billing work across markets?
One agreement, one invoice, one rate card. Every market and every product sits on it, whichever of the three ways in you start with.