Service phones are making a comeback as offices ban WhatsApp and TikTok

Perhaps there is a new ringtone in your life – the urgent ringing of a company mobile phone.

Following the BlackBerry era, telecom providers are seeing a strong growth of companies releasing phones to employees. The phenomenon that started during the COVID-19 pandemic has recently intensified thanks to new compliance guidelines around the use of WhatsApp and TikTok. That gave AT&T a “tailwind” for subscriber numbers, Chief Financial Officer Pascal Desroches said on a conference call this week.

Speaking at the same event, T-Mobile CFO Peter Osvaldik said his company’s business customer base has been “growing quarterly through 2022.”

The phones are more than just a business advantage, says Gartner analyst Lisa Pierce. “It’s also about control” — a way to restrict or block apps and keep company data safe, she said.

Businesses, particularly in the financial sector, are concerned about the security of their data, and the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have intensified their investigations into unauthorized private communications through apps like WhatsApp and through personal email.

Late last year, Congress, along with several states, banned TikTok in China on government employee devices over national security concerns. This allows companies to require their employees to remove apps from personal phones or provide a secure second device.

“Everyone seems to have two phones now — partly because of the industry we’re in and the need for privacy and security,” said Benjamin Bielawski, an analyst at Duff & Phelps Investment Management in Chicago.

This second device helps explain how wireless carriers are adding millions of new subscribers long after the wireless market has passed saturation, with nearly every adult in the US owning at least one phone.

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With TikTok addiction a concern and GroupMe, WhatsApp, and Twitter firmly gripping our screen time, there’s potential work-life conflict running on the same device.

That’s why Vincent Powell, an account executive from the San Francisco Bay Area, has two phones, though he sometimes gets confused looks from people when he pulls out the second device to email and text.

“I like having my private life and business kind of on the other side,” he said.

Powell’s two-device situation may soon not be so rare.

Neither AT&T nor T-Mobile publish business subscriber numbers. Verizon Communications and Charter Communications are the only two major carriers to report growth in work phone sales. Both have seen more than 50% growth in business phone subscribers over the past year.

Verizon on Friday promoted Sowmyanarayan Sampath, who previously led the company’s business group, to head of consumer division, the wireless giant’s largest division.

The resurgence comes more than a decade after the need for work-specific devices began to decline. As phones got smarter and new apps could block work and play activities, a second device was an unnecessary expense for large companies. The dominance of Apple and Samsung Electronics has once again made it easier for companies to choose a device for their employees, said Maribel Lopez, an analyst at Lopez Research.

“At this point it’s not a BlackBerry anymore,” she said. “But it feels like old school days.”