The answer, up front
Telecom networks carry the traffic every other sector depends on, and their operators are among the furthest along in planning the post-quantum migration. Ericsson researchers recommend that high-priority telecom systems migrate before 2031 and that the full transition finish by 2035, with long-lived trust anchors built into infrastructure today posing the hardest problem 1. This is the best-covered sector in the current reporting, drawing on vendor research, an industry body, a space agency, and a national program.
The Ericsson view
Ericsson's May 2026 paper highlights two concerns: confidentiality through key-exchange migration, and the long-lived trust anchors embedded in infrastructure 1. The authors argue that ML-KEM performs comparably to current methods, with larger keys adding only modest overhead at connection setup, and they flag devices with non-updatable bootstrap trust anchors as critical risks that need post-quantum algorithms installed at manufacture 1. The GSMA's PQ.03 guidelines, version 2.0 from November 2024, offer a phased approach so operators can prioritize use cases 2. The current reporting reflects the PQ.03 landing page rather than the full document, so treat the detail as a summary.
Satellite programs
Europe's space sector is moving. In March 2025 the European Space Agency selected a Polish technology company for its PQC ASTrAL project under the ARTES Space Systems for Safety and Security programme 3. The solution targets encryption, authentication and digital signatures using post-quantum algorithms and will work with the SpaceWire and SpaceFibre protocols, and ESA's connectivity director notes that European national security agencies are urging critical infrastructure to move to post-quantum cryptography 3.
Southeast Asia
CRN Asia reported in October 2025 that Singapore's Cyber Security Agency released a handbook on migrating to quantum-resistant cryptography and a Quantum Readiness Index, and that Singtel launched what it calls the region's first hybrid quantum network, combining quantum key distribution with post-quantum cryptography and offered as a managed security service through an MOU with Palo Alto Networks 4.
What this means for operators
The trust-anchor problem is the one to plan around. Keys and roots embedded in deployed devices cannot be swapped like a software library, so operators should inventory where non-updatable trust anchors live, require post-quantum support at manufacture for new equipment, and phase key-exchange migration into normal network upgrades.
How ArcQubit approaches it
ArcQubit treats the inventory as the starting point, especially for the embedded trust anchors that are hardest to change later. QuCode discovers where vulnerable cryptography and trust roots sit across the network, and QuTrust holds the phased migration plan so key-exchange and device-level work proceed in a defensible order.