Swedish telco Tele2 has expanded its IoT portfolio with private interconnect in partnership with California-based digital infrastructure company Equinix.

Private interconnect provides security, allowing IoT users to expand their safety by connecting to Equinix’s global interconnection service, Equinix Fabric. This enables IoT users to connect directly, securely and dynamically to distributed infrastructure and digital ecosystems using a single port.

Tele2 is opening up dedicated fibre for IoT users who find the public internet doesn’t fulfil professional security requirements. Private interconnect on fixed lines takes the user’s data through Tele2’s backbone fibre network and isolates it to the user’s own dedicated fibres.

This removes the risk of exploitation on the public internet and is offered using digital infrastructure from Equinix, a well-established player in the interconnection service provider world.

“By adding private interconnect to our 2Access family, we complement our solution for customers where security really is really important,” said Cyril Deschanel, managing director of Tele2 IoT. “With our partnership with Equinix, we help our customers securely and scalable connect their devices in a cost-conscious way, something we know our customers are demanding.”

Private interconnect provides high bandwidth, security, stability and scalability, along with lower network latency and improved performance. It also offers direct access to enterprises, services and cloud providers.

“Cyber threats are becoming ever more prevalent as the number of user devices and cloud resources increase,” said Maria Sundvall, managing director for Equinix in Sweden. “It is vital therefore that companies solve for distributed security risks. It is great to see Tele2 leverage interconnection to provide customers with a way to address cyber-security risks. Whatever we can do to help enterprises with this challenge, we will.”

Tele2 was founded in 1993, and its networks enable mobile and fixed connectivity, telephony, data network services, TV, streaming, and global IoT for millions of users. In 2020, Tele2 generated revenue of SEK 27bn and reported an underlying EBITDAaL of SEK 9bn.