Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, identifying an assigned friendly-phrase embedded universal integrated circuit card identifier (fpEID) for a wireless communication device and sending a service request message to a service provider network to initiate a service activation procedure, the service request message comprising the assigned fpEID. Various embodiments can include sending an fpEID assignment request message to a device vendor network, receiving an fpEID assignment confirmation message from the device vendor network in response to the fpEID assignment request message, and identifying the assigned fpEID based on the fpEID assignment confirmation message. Other embodiments are disclosed.