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I think you are mistaken. Activation is unrelated to cellular service. Activation is an anti-theft feature. E.g. even M1 macs are subject to activation and activation lock.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208987

Replacing the sim card in a device immediately triggers activation (e.g. to stop someone from using a stolen, passwordless device as their own). So, if the sim went bad, it seems plausible that the device might need to re-activate.

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Hmm. Okay, that sounds reasonable! I've come across the "Activation Required" screen before, both with people asking similar questions specifically about old cellular iPads, and it specifically says "Activation Required" while it's waiting to talk to an activation server, and that server really does cellular configuration. (I have personal experience with this step being screwed up on a new iPhone once. It was not a super fun time.)

A bit of Googling shows the "Activation Lock" screen as a screen that says, well, "Activation Lock"; I think it's really a separate thing. If that's what happened to the OP, then it can be unlocked from the web:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201441

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