Whatsapp And Tiktok Are Banned In Offices As Work Phones Make A Comeback‍

The frantic buzz of a cell phone provided by the corporation might now be your new favorite ringtone.

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Telecom service providers are experiencing significant growth as a result of businesses giving out phones to employees, a flashback to the BlackBerry period. Due to new compliance regulations on the usage of WhatsApp and TikTok, the practice, which began during the pandemic, has recently gained momentum. According to AT&T Inc.'s chief financial officer Pascal Desroches, it has created a "tailwind" for subscriber growth.

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According to Peter Osvaldik, chief financial officer of T-Mobile US Inc., the company's business client base "increased every quarter in 2022," at the same event.

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The smartphones are more than simply a benefit for employees, according to Lisa Pierce, an analyst for Gartner Inc. It's also about control, she added, as a way to limit or obstruct applications and safeguard company data.

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Businesses, particularly those in the financial sector, have grown increasingly worried about the safety of their data, and the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have increased their scrutiny of unauthorized private communication through personal email and on apps like WhatsApp.

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Because to national security concerns, the US Congress and a number of states banned TikTok from government personnel' smartphones in the latter part of last year. This forces businesses to choose between ordering employees to delete apps from personal phones or providing a safe backup device.

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"It seems like everyone has two phones now - partly owing to the sector we are in and the necessity for privacy and security," said Benjamin Bielawski, an analyst with Duff & Phelps Investment Management C in Chicago.

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With practically every adult in the US possessing at least one phone, the second device helps to explain how wireless carriers continue to sign up millions of new members even after the mobile industry has reached saturation.

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App censorship

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There could be a conflict between conducting personal and professional activities on the same device given that TikTok addiction is a concern and that GroupMe, WhatsApp, and Twitter have a tight control on how much time we spend on screens.

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Vincent Powell, an account manager in the San Francisco Bay region, owns two phones for this reason, despite the occasional strange stares he receives when he pulls out the second phone to answer customer emails and texts.

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I prefer having my personal life and career more or less separate platforms, he remarked.

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Powell's use of two devices could become more common in the near future.

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Both AT&T and T-Mobile withhold subscriber information for business phones. The only two significant carriers that separately report the increases in sales of work phones are Verizon Communications Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. In both cases, business phone users increased by more than 50% in 2017.

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Sowmyanarayan Sampath, who formerly oversaw the business section of the company, was given a promotion to manage the company's consumer segment on Friday.

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More than ten years after the demand for work-specific devices began to decline, there has been a revival. Having a second device was an unnecessary expense for large businesses until phones became smarter and new applications could separate work from play activities. According to Maribel Lopez, an analyst with Lopez Research, the dominance of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. has once again made it simpler for businesses to select a smartphone for their employees.

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