Helping Telcos Navigate Regulatory Pressures with Agility

“The digital communications industry has always been highly regulated and regulations are becoming stricter every year,” observes Helena Cimber, product director at digital infrastructure provider e-Boks. 

That’s because risks of data and privacy breaches from compromised networks are increasing. Telcos must strive for transparency and compliance while maintaining service quality. This is especially important in a sector where consumers rely heavily on connectivity for personal and professional communication. 

Compliance is never a one-time expense; it requires continual monitoring, updates, and the ability to adapt quickly to changing regulations. Maintaining compliance with complex federal, state, and local regulations in the U.S. or in international markets can add up to millions of dollars annually.

Noncompliance can be costly. In 2024, corporate violations of GDPR rules in Europe totaled $1.26 billion. And while the financial hit for firms was less in 2024 than in 2023, the number of data breaches has continued to rise, with 8.3% more reports, noted the head of intellectual property and technology at global law firm DLA Piper.

Also, in April 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined four major U.S. telecom carriers nearly $200 million for sharing customers’ location data without their consent. The FCC found that the firms sold customers’ location data to third parties, who then resold it to other companies.

Stricter Regulations on the Rise

“The standards keep on changing at a rapid pace for both privacy and security laws,” says Cimber. “To be able to keep up with those regulatory changes requires agility, which legacy systems often lack, and cross-border compliance since it can be multiple regions.”

Specifically, legacy telecom systems lack scalability and flexibility, and they frequently face failures and downtime. They also are more vulnerable to data breaches, which frequently requires organizations to isolate legacy systems to limit the potential damage. 

In the U.S., individual state privacy regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CPRA) are increasing. The CPRA allows residents to know what personal information, including data collected through cookies, a business has collected about them and how it is being used and shared. Consumers must give their consent before firms can collect and use personal data if it’s categorized as sensitive or belongs to a child. They also can opt out of selling or sharing personal information with third parties. The law also requires firms to delete a person’s personal information upon request.

Telecom firms remaining compliant with these constantly evolving regulations is not easy, especially when requirements extend beyond simply protecting data confidentiality. For instance, companies can face stiff penalties if they’re shown to have not taken adequate safeguards to protect customers from data breaches. In November 2024, the Spanish Data Protection Authority fined a telecom distributor €6.5 million after a ransomware attack resulted in the release of personal data of 13 million people on the dark web.

“Although the company did not act intentionally, the AEPD found its security shortcomings to be negligent, underscoring the principle that companies processing high volumes of personal data must exercise a higher standard of care,” said Claire Murphy, an associate in the Data Privacy, Cybersecurity & Digital Assets Practice at Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP, in her recent analysis of the case in The National Law Review.

Often, navigating these regulations can prove challenging if a telecom company also seeks to maintain operational efficiency. According to Cimber, telcos frequently must balance security investments with innovation priorities.

 “Meeting compliance requirements means you often must divert resources from innovation and service delivery, which of course, impacts your operational efficiency,” she says.

e-Boks – A Driver for Innovation for Regulatory-minded Telcos

Fortunately, telecom firms aren’t alone in meeting these competing demands. For more than two decades, Danish-based e-Boks has helped telcos and other industries securely digitize their communication flows.

e-Boks’ secure digital correspondence platform helps firms meet increasingly complex compliance regulations and can help firms translate compliance into a driver for innovation.

"Compliance frameworks (such as GDPR) force us to design our solution around them,” Cimber notes. "This means not only meeting the regulatory demands but also creating an experience around them that works for our users.”

The company’s platform ensures customers receive only legitimate messages without any risk of spam or phishing. Users are verified, and correspondence is sent within a secure system. The platform also serves as a valuable tool for telecom companies that need to securely handle sensitive customer data, ensuring they adhere to strict regulatory standards within the telecom industry.

The e-Boks' platform offers audit reports, activity logs, the right to be forgotten and use of privacy, which meets stringent data and security and privacy requirements, explained Cimber.
“It also reduces the operational complexity for the company because these pre-built compliance functionalities integrate with their system and comes out of the box ready for them to use.” 

Transforming Compliance into a Competitive Advantage

Cimber says e-Boks’ platform can give telcos a competitive advantage by allowing them to be proactive in meeting customers’ privacy needs.

“If you are proactive in your compliance strategy, it can enhance consumer trust. Also, you can use this to differentiate yourself in your offerings,” she explains.

To illustrate, she points to how e-Boks’ digital correspondence platform can keep customer data safe and compliant in a trusted ecosystem “while also doubling as value-added services for your customers.”

The platform allows telcos to optimize workflows while protecting sensitive data. That is key to meeting regulatory demands as well as demand for cross-border services as it adheres to regulations and emerging standards worldwide. According to Cimber, GDPR’s regulations have opened up the opportunity for seamless cross-border message delivery with minimal friction.  

With e-Boks, telcos can simplify compliance processes, reduce the risk of breaches and strengthen customer trust, leading to enhanced brand reputation and long-term customer loyalty.