Deutsche Telekom plans to make a strategic investment in ID Quantique
ID Quantique SA (IDQ) today announced a strategic investment plan from Deutsche Telekom, the German telecom giant. The investment is part of a joint agreement between SK Telecom, a majority investor in IDQ, and Deutsche Telekom to strengthen their competitiveness in 5G and offer specialised highly secure 5G services. The investment will strengthen IDQ’s position as a global leader in quantum safe communication solutions.
ID Quantique announced today a strategic investment plan from Deutsche Telekom, intended to develop IDQ’s quantum technologies for the telecom and IoT markets in the new 5G era. The investment is part of a joint agreement between Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom, a majority investor in IDQ since February 2018, in order to strengthen their competitiveness in 5G and offer specialised highly secure 5G services.
Unlike the pre-5G era, which was mainly about communication between people, the 5G era will be marked by communication between people and things, as well as communication between things, which will support intelligent services like connected cars, smart factories and wearable devices. The hyper-connectivity of the 5G world, as well as the huge amounts of aggregated data flowing over the networks, will drive the need for better security.
Against this backdrop, Deutsche Telekom is considering the adoption of quantum cryptography communication systems. SK Telecom and Deutsche Telekom are currently in the process of qualifying ID Quantique’s quantum cryptography technologies on their respective trial networks.
With the use of quantum cryptography, the security of national infrastructure, financial networks, data centres and medical institutions will be significantly enhanced. Going forward, quantum cryptography will be applied to more areas. ID Quantique is also actively supporting business opportunities in other European countries with high demands for security technologies.
CEO of Deutsche Telekom, MobiledgeX, ID Quantique, SK Telecom respectively.
“This investment plan from Deutsche Telekom is key. It will allow us to accelerate development and adoption of leading-edge solutions to meet the increasing demands for state-of-the-art security underpinning future telecom networks,” said Dr Grégoire Ribordy, CEO and co-Founder of IDQ. ”The partnership with Deutsche Telekom will also help us to consolidate our leadership in European markets in this increasingly vital sector.”
“Deutsche Telekom is pleased by this planned investment in ID Quantique. The importance of providing secure communication to the customers has never been higher. We at Deutsche Telekom believe that ID Quantique’s solution can play a role in improving network security for our customers,” said Alex Choi, SVP Strategy & Technology Innovation of Deutsche Telekom.
“SK Telecom is pleased by this investment in ID Quantique from Deutsche Telekom. It will serve as a valuable opportunity for us to further solidify our collaboration and joint 5G leadership in the global market,” said Park Jung-ho, President and Chief Executive Officer of SK Telecom.
About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, with some 168 million mobile customers, 28 million fixed-network lines, and 19 million broadband lines. Deutsche Telekom provides fixed-network/broadband, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers, and information and communication technology solutions for business and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in more than 50 countries with a staff of some 216,000 employees throughout the world.
About Deutsche Telekom: Deutsche Telekom Company profile.
About SK Telecom
Established in 1984, SK Telecom is the largest mobile operator in Korea by both revenue and number of subscribers. As of December 2017, the company holds around 50 percent of the market, with 30.2 million mobile subscribers including 22.87 million LTE subscribers. It has reached KRW 17.520 trillion in revenue in 2017. SK Telecom has led the advancement of mobile technologies ranging from 2G to 4G, and is currently setting important milestones in its journey to 5G. The company is not only leading innovation in the field of mobile network, but also providing IoT, media, home and platform services. SK Telecom is determined to play a significant role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution by achieving innovations and promoting shared growth with other players in the industry.
For more information, contact sktelecom@bm.com or visit www.globalskt.com.
About ID Quantique
Founded in 2001 as a spin-off of the Group of Applied Physics of the University of Geneva, ID Quantique is the world leader in quantum-safe crypto solutions, designed to protect data for the future. The company provides quantum-safe network encryption, secure quantum key generation and Quantum Key Distribution solutions and services to the financial industry, enterprises and government organisations globally. IDQ’s quantum random number generator has been validated according to global standards and independent agencies, and is the reference in highly regulated and mission critical industries – such as security, encryption, critical infrastructure and IoT – where trust is paramount.
Additionally, IDQ is a leading provider of optical instrumentation products, most notably photon counters and related electronics. The company’s innovative photonic solutions are used in both commercial and research applications.
IDQ’s products are used by government, enterprise and academic customers in more than 60 countries and on every continent. IDQ is proud of its independence and neutrality, and believes in establishing long-term and trusted relationships with its customers and partners.
For more information, visit www.idquantique.com or contact us here.
