Work Phones Make a Comeback

There may be a new ringtone in your life — the urgent chime of a company-issued cell phone.

In a throwback to the Blackberry era, telecom-service providers are seeing strong growth from companies handing out phones to employees.

The phenomenon, which started during the pandemic, picked up recently thanks to new compliance policies around the use of WhatsApp and TikTok. It’s provided a “tailwind” for subscriber gains at AT&T Inc., Chief Financial Officer Pascal Desroches said at a conference this week.

At the same event, T-Mobile US Inc. Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said his company’s corporate customer count “grew every quarter in 2022.”

The phones are more than just a corporate perk, said Gartner Inc. analyst Lisa Pierce. “It’s also about control” — a means of restricting or blocking applications and keeping corporate data secure, she said.

Businesses, especially those in finance, have grown concerned about the security of their data, and the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have stepped up their scrutiny over unauthorized private communication on applications such as WhatsApp and through personal email.

Late last year, Congress, along with several states, banned China-owned TikTok from government employees’ devices over national security concerns. This puts organizations in the position of either requiring their workers to remove apps from personal phones, or offering a secure second device.

“It seems like everyone has two phones now — partly due to the industry we are in and the need for privacy and security,” said Benjamin Bielawski, an analyst with Dunn & Phelps Investment Management Co. in Chicago.

That second device helps explain how wireless carriers keep racking up millions of new subscribers long after the time when the mobile market passed saturation, with nearly every adult in the U.S. owning at least one phone.

App Clampdown

With TikTok addiction being a concern, and GroupMe, WhatsApp and Twitter holding a firm grip on our screen time, there’s a potential conflict between work and personal life being conducted on the same device.