BT opens Singapore cybersecurity hub

(Image credit: Pixabay)

BT has officially opened a major new office in Singapore that will offer a base for its global connectivity and cybersecurity operations in South East Asia.

The office employs more than 300 staff and will house a ‘customer experience centre’ and cybersecurity hub among other functions.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK foreign secretary, was on hand to open the office which employs more than 300 staff.

BT Security Singapore

Aside from the operational and cybersecurity functions, the facility will also house a ‘customer experience centre’ that will showcase BT’s global connectivity products to customers in the region.

Existing customers include local government agencies, financial service providers, logistics firms and the Singapore Stock Exchange.

“It is an honour to welcome the Foreign Secretary to open our regional headquarters in Singapore. The new office is home to almost 300 highly skilled staff, supporting our growing list of customers in the region with resilient connectivity, cloud services and world class security,” declared James Hennah, BT’s managing director for South East Asia.

“It builds on our established presence with both networking and cyber operations in the wider Asia Pacific region. Just over a year ago we opened a brand new Cyber Security R&D Centre in Sydney, tapping into local talent to help us alleviate the global cyber skills shortage.”

The Sydney centre opened in September 2017 and was BT’s first cybersecurity R&D facility outside the UK.

BT Security has undertaken a series of recruitment drives in recent years but has been concerned about a possible skills shortage. It has more than 14 Security Operations Centres (SOC) designed to protect its global customers in more than 180 countries.

Security is seen as a way of increasing revenues at a time when BT is expanding its business service portfolio following an extended period of decline in both its domestic B2B division and at BT Global Services (BTGS).

A new strategic direction was created for a ‘leaner’ BTGS back in 2017 while in April last year, BT announced it was combining its Business & Public Sector division with its Wholesale & Ventures until into a single unit known as BT Enterprise.

However, BT Security CEO Mark Hughes unexpectedly left the company late last year.

Steve McCaskill is TechRadar Pro's resident mobile industry expert, covering all aspects of the UK and global news, from operators to service providers and everything in between. He is a former editor of Silicon UK and journalist with over a decade's experience in the technology industry, writing about technology, in particular, telecoms, mobile and sports tech, sports, video games and media.