Singtel to reap benefits from increased spending on information security

Global spending is expected to grow by 7.6% to US$90b this year.

Singtel's growth exposure to areas like cyber security, digital marketing, and data analytics will soon give it a greater advantage against its competitors not just in Singapore but in overseas markets as well.

The telco giant is expected to specifically benefit from the increased worldwide spending on information security. Citing a report from market watcher Gartner, OCBC Investment Research said spending on information security is expected to grow 7.6% year-on-year to US$90b in CY17 and reach US$113b by 2020.

Meanwhile, spending on enhancing detection and response capabilities is expected to be a key priority for security buyers through 2020. It is also expected that the worldwide business intelligence and analytics market will grow 7.3% yoy to US$18.3b this year, and reach US$22.8b by end of 2020.

"In our view, the analytics capabilities are complementary to digital marketing effectiveness as customers are able to better utilise relevant data analytics to improve the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns," noted OCBC.

The brokerage research firm said Singtel would greatly benefit from such trends given its exposure from its cyber security unit, Trustwave; digital marketing entity, Amobee; and advanced analytics and intelligence unit, DataSpark.