Finnish network vendor Nokia has announced that it is launching a dedicated Security unit at the beginning of next month that it claims will create “additional value” for operators and “make security a positive differentiator”. The new unit will be part of the Mobile Broadband division of Nokia’s Networks business.

“The new Security unit will bring together security experts and talent from across the company—customer operations, global services and technology & innovation teams, for example—with the aim of tackling the full set of requirements for robust telco security,” said Marc Rouanne, executive vice president, Mobile Broadband at Nokia. “We will continue to encourage industry dialogue and knowledge sharing in terms of security research to improve awareness of this crucially important area of telco business, including with open source software. This will become critically important as mobile broadband networks are starting to evolve towards the cloud.”

Nokia cited a recent survey it conducted into customer acquisition and retention, from which it concluded that 75 per cent of end users consider security to be an operator responsibility. The firm said that “a significant portion” of mobile subscriber would be likely to churn from one operator to another in the face of security problems and that end users are prepared to pay a premium for enhanced security.