BT, DT seen as quantum-safe networking pioneers

• TelecomTV conducted its second quantum-safe networking market perception survey
• More than 240 individuals from the telecom sector responded
• We asked which network operators are regarded as leaders in the market, with the UK’s BT Group and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom topping the ranking

UK national operator BT Group is regarded as the leading telco pioneer in the quantum-safe networking sector, according to the results of a recent TelecomTV market perception survey of telecom professionals, with Deutsche Telekom close behind in second place. 

The survey is designed to gauge how the industry views various trends and developments in the quantum-safe networking sector, which has seen a great deal of activity since TelecomTV conducted its first quantum-safe networking market perception survey in April 2024. 

The results of the survey, which was completed by 241 professionals from all over the world and from all corners of the telecom sector – 44% vendors, 29% network operators, 27% others, including analysts, industry organisations and enterprises – have been published in our latest DSP Leaders publication, the 14-page Quantum-Safe Networking Market Perception Report, which is free for anyone to download now. 

We did things slightly differently this year due to the major uptick in quantum-safe networking activity across the world. In early 2024, when we were formulating our initial set of survey questions, only a few network operators were discussing their quantum-safe networking strategies, trials and early deployments, and the number of tech companies engaging in any meaningful way with those operators was limited. As a result, when we asked our 2024 survey respondents about which companies they regarded as the market leaders in the development of technology that will enable quantum-safe networking, we offered up a single list of companies (a mix of network operators and technology developers) for consideration. 

Now, though, there are too many companies active in this sector for just one list, so this time around we asked our survey respondents to select the companies they deem to be the market leaders from two lists – one comprising vendors and developers and the other comprising network operators known by TelecomTV to be active in the quantum-safe networking sector. As we previously reported, IBM and Nokia are regarded as the leading vendors – see IBM, Nokia top quantum-safe networking ranking.

So this time around we asked our respondents an operator-specific question: Which, if any, of the following companies do you recognise as leaders in the development of quantum-safe networking services? 

As we did with the vendors, we provided a list of suggestions and noted that respondents should select as many names as they deemed relevant. They were also asked to suggest additional names of companies that they deemed to be service provider pioneers in this field. Some of our respondents didn’t select, or suggest, any companies, but 199 did make at least one selection.  

As you can see from the chart above, BT came out on top: That is not a big shock as the UK telco launched its initial quantum-safe data transport service as long ago as 2022 – see BT boasts quantum security breakthrough with Toshiba, EY. 

Naturally, BT has continued to develop its services and invest in further quantum-safe communications R&D during the past few years – see BT & Toshiba team with Equinix for quantum-safe connectivity and BT’s research chief on quantum-safe networking and network APIs.

BT attracted votes from an impressive 42% of our respondents: Last year, BT was recognised as a leading player in the sector by 26% of those who completed the 2024 survey, so its standing in the industry has risen.

Deutsche Telekom, having opened a quantum research lab in 2023, has ramped up its quantum-safe networking activities during the past 12 months. In April it announced that its Innovation Laboratories (T-Labs), in partnership with US/Dutch specialist vendor Qunnect, had enabled sustained quantum networking (or quantum internet) connectivity with 99% fidelity for a period of 17 days over a 30km stretch of commercially deployed fibre in Berlin, claiming that this represented “a decisive step on the way to the quantum internet and demonstrates how existing telecommunications infrastructure can support the quantum technologies of tomorrow” – see DT boasts quantum networking breakthrough.

It was also involved, with Toshiba Europe, in the successful completion of coherent, secure quantum communications over an existing telecom network using standard fibre optic cable at normal room temperature – see Toshiba brings quantum comms to the telecom network.

In joint third place is Orange, which recently launched Orange Quantum Defender, a quantum-safe networking service underpinned by technology from Toshiba, and SK Telecom, which has been hot on the quantum-safe networking trail for a few years already, been heavily involved in industry standards developments, and earlier this year struck a multi-faceted partnership with US quantum technology specialist IonQ with the aim of integrating its new partner’s technology with its AI infrastructure assets and AI applications – see SK Telecom adds quantum to its AI mix with IonQ.

Vodafone, which has also been developing quantum-safe services for a number of years already, and a further 11 operators, including Telefónica, Colt, AT&T, China Telecom, Sparkle (Telecom Italia) and NTT, secured meaningful votes from our respondents, while a further 13 were suggested by some of our respondents – you can see the full list and ranking order in the report.

The Quantum-Safe Networking Market Perception Report, the 20th free-to-download DSP Leaders Report, is available now: You can find all of our reports here. 

You can find our coverage of all the latest quantum technology-related developments impacting the telecom sector on this dedicated TelecomTV page.   

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV