Workz developed alongside the extraordinary growth of mobile telecommunications across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Over approximately 27 years, the Dubai-based company evolved from a regional telecom-products and supply-chain business into one of the world’s largest manufacturers of SIM and prepaid recharge products—and ultimately into an international eSIM, remote-provisioning and cloud-connectivity company.
Its history reflects the wider transformation of the mobile industry: from physical handsets, retail stores and printed recharge cards to embedded SIMs, connected devices and remotely managed digital identities.
1997–2002: The foundations in Dubai
The Workz story began in Dubai in 1997, during a period of rapid mobile-network expansion across emerging markets.
Its commercial foundations were closely connected to Brightpoint Middle East, the regional operation of Brightpoint Inc., then one of the world’s largest mobile-phone distributors. Brightpoint Middle East supplied handsets and outsourced operational services across the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia, supported by distribution facilities in Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The business extended well beyond conventional product distribution. Its activities included handset procurement, inventory management, warehousing, customized packaging, product configuration, order fulfilment, logistics, e-commerce support, retail operations and after-sales service.
Brightpoint Middle East also developed prepaid recharge-card services and operator-specific supply-chain programs. These capabilities established the operational foundation from which Workz would later emerge.
2002–2005: The Persequor period
In August 2002, Brightpoint sold its interests in Brightpoint Middle East and Brightpoint Jordan to Persequor, a management-controlled wireless investment group. The transaction brought together a range of telecommunications businesses spanning handset distribution, retail, aftermarket services, repair operations, logistics and supply-chain technology. RCR Wireless
The wider operating group included:
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Brightpoint Middle East’s handset-distribution and fulfilment operations
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Brightpoint Jordan’s work supporting Fastlink, later Zain Jordan
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FONO, a Gulf mobile-phone retail and repair venture associated with Dubai’s Al Maktoum family
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i-mate aftermarket, repair and service-centre operations
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Telecom-product packaging and configuration
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Operator logistics and supply-chain services
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Supply-chain and fulfilment software
FONO owned or operated more than 20 branded telecommunications stores across the Middle East and Gulf states. It provided mobile-phone sales, customer support, repair services and an important retail channel for Nokia products.
The Persequor period brought these businesses together within a common operating environment and helped distinguish the value of specialist operator services from conventional handset distribution.
2005–2006: The emergence of Workz
The Persequor structure was unwound during 2005 and 2006. FONO was sold to Axiom Telecom, while Brightpoint reacquired the principal Persequor handset-distribution interests in early 2006. RCR Wireless
The operator-facing service, manufacturing, secure-data, packaging and supply-chain activities were carried forward under Workz.
This marked an important strategic change. Workz would no longer be principally identified as a mobile-handset distributor. Instead, it concentrated on the products, processes and systems that mobile-network operators required to acquire, activate and manage subscribers.
The developing business included three complementary areas:
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Workz Media: SIM cards, recharge cards, secure printing, data generation, personalization and packaging.
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Workz Cargo: warehousing, fulfilment, distribution and supply-chain management.
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Operator services and software: serialization, activation, reconciliation, order management and subscriber-management systems.
Workz also established ProWorkz, a consulting and implementation business advising mobile-network operators on market entry, competitive response, supply-chain strategy and operational performance.
Together, these capabilities positioned Workz as an integrated operator-services company rather than a conventional product supplier.
2006–2014: Building manufacturing and fulfilment scale
Workz subsequently developed substantial manufacturing, personalization and fulfilment operations in Dubai Production City.
The facilities produced and assembled:
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SIM cards and customized SIM packaging
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Prepaid recharge and scratch cards
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Secure PIN and activation products
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Serialized telecommunications products
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Retail and promotional packaging
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Operator-specific starter kits
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Subscriber-acquisition and fulfilment packs
Production involved more than printing and packaging. Workz generated, personalized and securely managed sensitive subscriber, recharge and activation data. It coordinated procurement, production, inventory, fulfilment and final delivery for mobile operators operating across multiple countries.
The combination of secure manufacturing and supply-chain execution became one of the company’s principal competitive advantages. Operators could work with a single provider across product design, data generation, production, packaging and delivery.
In 2014, Workz expanded its Dubai scratch-card printing capacity. By then, it had evolved from a regional services operation into a major international telecom-products manufacturer.
2015–2017: Industry scale and software development
Workz joined the GSMA in 2015. At the time, the company was delivering approximately 850 million products annually to more than 50 network operators across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.
Its growing manufacturing scale was accompanied by increasing investment in software and remote subscriber-management technology.
In 2016, Vodafone Qatar recognized Workz as its Best Experience Support Partner following a long-running relationship that produced new commercial products, logistics savings and improvements in transportation efficiency.
In 2017, Workz launched Z-OTA, an over-the-air platform that enabled operators to remotely update SIM cards, applications, network settings and subscriber services. The platform allowed operators to manage functions such as preferred roaming networks, service-provider names, SIM applications and value-added services without physically replacing the SIM card. The Peninsula
During this period, industry rankings identified Workz as the world’s largest manufacturer of prepaid recharge cards. The company was producing more than one billion telecommunications products annually and serving a rapidly expanding international customer base.
The introduction of Z-OTA demonstrated that Workz was moving beyond physical manufacturing. The company was beginning to build the software and remote-management capabilities required for the next generation of connected devices.
2018–2019: The transition to eSIM and IoT
Workz’s most consequential transformation began as the telecommunications industry moved from removable SIM cards toward embedded SIMs and remotely provisioned connectivity.
By 2018, Workz was producing approximately 1.5 billion telecommunications products annually, employing more than 250 people and serving more than 65 mobile-network operators.
That year, its Dubai Production City facility became the first in the Middle East and Africa, and only the sixth facility worldwide, to receive GSMA certification for manufacturing SIM products incorporating eUICC software. The certification enabled Workz to securely produce the embedded-SIM technology required for remote provisioning and connected-device applications. GSMA
Workz also expanded its international presence, including the opening of a Johannesburg office, and developed partnerships with technology companies such as Truphone and Arm.
Its expanding product portfolio included:
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Consumer eSIM solutions
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Machine-to-machine and IoT eSIM products
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Remote SIM-provisioning services
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Secure eSIM-data generation and personalization
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Embedded-device connectivity products
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5G-ready SIM technology
In late 2018, the group established a headquarters in Dublin as part of a broader European expansion. By 2019, the expanded organization reportedly employed more than 400 people across nine locations, with certified production capabilities in Dubai and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2020: Refocusing the business
In September 2020, Workz announced a strategic restructuring intended to strengthen its focus on core telecommunications products and improve profitability.
The company’s headquarters returned from Dublin to Dubai, and the Turkish, Bosnian and German entities ceased to form part of the Workz Group. Operations continued across the UAE, United Kingdom, United States, Hong Kong, Senegal and South Africa.
Tor Malmros, who had previously served as CFO and co-CEO, became group CEO. Brad Taylor, who had led the company through its principal manufacturing and international-growth periods, continued as co-founder and director. Telecom Reseller
The restructuring created a more concentrated company focused on SIM technology, eSIM management, secure data, over-the-air services and cloud-based subscriber management.
2021–2024: From physical SIMs to cloud connectivity
Workz’s final years as an independently owned company were increasingly software- and cloud-driven.
In 2021, the company received GSMA Security Accreditation for subscription management and became the first provider to launch a GSMA-certified, cloud-based consumer eSIM-management service.
It also introduced MeSH, a multi-tenant eSIM-management platform that allowed network operators to manage multiple eSIM systems and customer environments through a common interface.
Further developments included:
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2021: Introduction of EcoSIM, a biodegradable SIM product.
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2022: Adoption of EcoSIM by Virgin Mobile across its Middle East operations.
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2022: Partnership with Monogoto to support cloud-based eSIM services.
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2023: Partnership with 1oT for international IoT connectivity.
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2024: Development of remote eSIM device-management capabilities based on the emerging SGP.32 IoT standard.
By 2024, Workz described itself as serving more than 150 network operators across over 80 countries and having managed more than 18 billion connections across five continents. Workz corporate overview
The business had completed a fundamental transformation. What began with physical distribution, packaging and printed recharge products had become a secure digital platform for managing mobile and IoT connectivity.
September 2024: Acquisition by Trasna
On September 3, 2024, Ireland-based Trasna Holdings acquired Workz.
The combination brought together two complementary technology businesses:
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Workz contributed SIM and eSIM manufacturing, personalization, secure data management, cloud provisioning and over-the-air subscriber-management technology.
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Trasna contributed semiconductor design, SIM chips, system-on-chip technology and integrated IoT hardware.
Together, the businesses could provide an end-to-end platform extending from semiconductor and SIM design through secure production, cloud provisioning, connectivity management and remote device control. Trasna acquisition announcement
The acquisition ended Workz’s approximately 27 years as an independently owned business. It did not, however, end its technology, production or customer operations. Those capabilities became part of the wider Trasna organization and its integrated IoT platform.
A business built through continuous reinvention
Workz succeeded across several generations of mobile technology because it repeatedly adapted its business before existing products became obsolete.
It moved from handset distribution to operator services; from logistics to secure manufacturing; from recharge cards to SIM technology; and from physical SIMs to eSIM, remote provisioning and cloud-based connectivity.
Each transformation built on capabilities developed during the previous stage: supply-chain control, secure data management, manufacturing quality, operator relationships and disciplined execution.
From its beginnings in Dubai in 1997 to its acquisition by Trasna in 2024, Workz became a significant participant in the development of the international mobile-telecommunications industry, and an example of how a regional operating business could evolve into a global technology company.
Further reference: Workz historical overview.