A mobile encryption app that was first unveiled by Deutsche Telekom at the CeBIT trade fair in March has now been commercially released for large business customers, and marks a new level of end-to-end encryption for voice and text messages sent via a smartphone.
In a statement on Monday, Deutsche Telekom said the Mobile Encryption App for Android and iOS smartphones functions in any telephone network, and even works without a SIM card via a Wi-Fi connection or a satellite link.
Deutsche Telekom's enterprise unit T-Systems will run the service in co-operation with the Berlin-based company Gesellschaft fuer sichere Mobile Kommunikation mbH (GSMK), a provider of encrypted phone services and devices. The German operator added that it will even be possible to send encrypted voice and text messages in countries that block voice services over the Internet. The app also only needs around 4.8 Kbps in order to function, and therefore will work in areas with poor Internet coverage.
The service is initially available for large business at a cost of between €15 and €20 per device per month. Deutsche Telekom added that it also plans to make the app available for smaller companies as well as private consumers, while a Windows Phone version will follow at a later date.
The new mobile encryption app is just one module in a wide portfolio of mobile security and data protection products from the German operator.
Deutsche Telekom stepped up efforts to protect customer and business data in the wake of the revelations by Edward Snowden. Germany was particularly shocked by allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had tapped the mobile phone of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor.
For more:
- see this Deutsche Telekom release (in German)
- see this Guardian article from February
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