Still, never saw it on the European operators I have used thus far, or on any of my trips outside Europe, while using devices bought directly without any operator contract.
You can see this today with some eSIM providers.
I’ve just travelled outside Europe one month ago and tethering could not be enabled until I changed to a different provider on an iPhone 15 without carrier contract.
eSIM is another way of providers to lock customers, working around lack of contracts, not something I ever plan to use as long as pre-paid SIM cards are a reality.