Well no, it's not a phone but a tablet which, thanks to your SIM card, allows you to surf anywhere there's a 4/5G network without needing Wifi (but it also works in Wifi). That said, the Face Time app allows you to call your contacts with an Apple device in video conference ;-)

You would only need a Data SIM card and not a SIM card that offers telephony and SMS. If you need to validate your SIM card to make it work so you can receive an SMS to activate it, you need to insert it into a mobile phone first, once the SIM card is activated you can use it in the tablet.