Security: The role of telcos in a post Covid-19 era

Summary

The Covid-19 pandemic reshaped how consumers and enterprises think about digital trust, expanding the role telecom operators are expected to play in securing that new normal. As remote work, digital payments, and online services surged, telcos emerge not just as connectivity providers but as a critical layer of infrastructure security for the broader digital economy across Europe and Asia.

The pandemic accelerated existing security vulnerabilities, from increased exposure to cyber threats tied to remote work infrastructure to the growing sophistication of attacks targeting newly digitised consumer and enterprise services. Capabilities telecom operators are best positioned to offer range from network-level threat detection to securing the edge infrastructure supporting a suddenly much larger population of remote and mobile users.

The commercial opportunity this shift represents for telcos positions security services as a potential new revenue category adjacent to core connectivity, raising the question of what capabilities operators need to build or acquire to credibly compete with established cybersecurity vendors in an increasingly crowded market for enterprise and consumer trust.

• Security vulnerabilities accelerated by pandemic-driven remote work
• Telco-led security services as a new enterprise revenue category

As the pandemic pushed life online, are telcos positioned to become the internet's security layer, not just its pipes?