Penetration Testing Cost for UK Telecoms Providers (2026)

A penetration test for a UK telecoms or connectivity provider typically costs £2,200 to £47,600 in the UK market. The low end is a short test of the network edge. The high end covers subscriber portals, provisioning APIs, the perimeter and the internal network. The price is the number of testing days multiplied by a day rate of £1,100 to £1,400.

What does a penetration test cost for a telecoms provider?

Most internet service providers, mobile operators, resellers and MVNOs fall into one of five scopes, typically costing between £2,200 and £47,600 in the UK market. What you pay depends on how many systems are tested and how much authority each one holds over subscribers and the network, because that sets the number of testing days.

Scope	What is tested	Days	Typical UK cost
Network edge	Edge devices, management interfaces and remote-access services reachable from the internet	2 to 3 days	£2,200 to £4,200
Provisioning API	A single API that creates, changes or suspends services, with its authorisation boundaries	4 to 5 days	£4,400 to £7,000
Reseller portal	A channel-partner portal with one role, covering account creation and separation between resellers	5 days	£5,500 to £7,000
Subscriber portal and provisioning API	A multi-role self-service portal, including SIM swap and identity checks, plus the provisioning API behind it	14 to 21 days	£15,400 to £29,400
Provider-wide test	The portal and API above, the external network edge, and the internal network including separation between provisioning, billing and network operations	20 to 34 days	£22,000 to £47,600

These are market ranges, worked out from typical engagement lengths and UK day rates of £1,100 to £1,400. They are a guide for budgeting. The pricing page shows the engagement lengths for each type of test, and the quote form gives an exact fixed price for your scope.

What drives the price?

The number of testing days drives the price, and the scope drives the number of days. On a telecoms estate, five things move the day count: how many portals and APIs are in scope, how many user roles each has, how many partner and reseller boundaries exist, how big the network edge is, and how many separate environments sit behind it.

• Provisioning authority. A provisioning API is more than a data store. It can change what a subscriber receives and what the network does, so each authorisation boundary between provisioning and the downstream systems it triggers has to be tested. See API penetration testing.
• SIM swap and identity workflows. Self-service and agent-assisted swap flows, identity checks and porting steps are tested as business processes, not only as pages.
• Roles and tenants. Subscriber, agent, reseller and wholesale roles each add boundaries. Cross-reseller data leakage is a test in its own right.
• Network edge size. The number of internet-facing addresses, management interfaces and sites sets the length of the external infrastructure work.
• Environments behind the edge. Separation between provisioning, billing and network-operations environments is part of the internal network work, and each additional Active Directory domain adds time.

Tester grade is not a pricing factor, and neither is the size of the testing company. Two quotes for the same scope should differ mainly in the number of days. If one quote is much lower, compare the day counts first.

How is a test scoped around live subscriber and network systems?

Scope starts with a technical call that maps the subscriber, provisioning and network-management systems, agrees rules of engagement and fixes safe testing windows for live network infrastructure. Testing then runs to those rules, so the day count is known before work begins and the price does not move.

For budgeting, this means the application and perimeter rows above can be priced now from the table. Anything that touches live network equipment is priced after the scoping call, once the change windows and the systems that must not be disturbed are known. EJN Labs tests safely by default on production, with no denial of service.

VoIP and SIP services serving communications providers, such as call routing and toll-fraud pathways, are scoped on request rather than priced from the table. See VoIP and SIP penetration testing.

What is included, and what costs extra?

A quote should cover scoping, testing, the report, a walkthrough of the findings and a retest. Ask every company you approach to confirm each of those in writing, because retests and out of hours work are the two items that most often appear later as extra charges.

With EJN Labs, the quote is a fixed price for a defined scope. It includes:

• Testing by UK-based, CREST-certified testers.
• Findings in a client portal as they are confirmed, each with a CVSS score.
• The report on the last day of testing, and a walkthrough call.
• Free retests until findings are resolved.
• Out of hours slots, with no out-of-hours, callout, cancellation or rescheduling fees.

What changes the price is a change of scope: a portal or API added after the quote, extra user roles, or a larger network edge than the one described. If the scope grows, you get a new fixed price before any extra work starts.

How do you get a quote, and what will you be asked?

Send the list of systems you want tested and say who has asked for the evidence. A testing company needs a few facts about each system to count the days. Having them ready is the fastest way to get a firm price, and it makes quotes from different companies comparable.

1. Which systems are in scope: subscriber portals, provisioning APIs, SIM management, reseller portals, the network edge, internal networks.
2. For each portal, the number of user roles and whether agents, resellers or wholesale partners use it.
3. For each API, roughly how many endpoints it has, and whether an API specification is available.
4. For the network edge, roughly how many internet-facing addresses and management interfaces you have.
5. For internal networks, whether provisioning, billing and network-operations environments are separated.
6. Who asked for the test and the exact wording: a host network operator, a wholesale customer, a vendor assessment or your own security programme.
7. Any dates to avoid, such as network changes, migrations or billing runs.

Telecoms organisations can use a CREST-accredited company or a TBEST provider, depending on what their requirement states. EJN Labs is CREST-accredited. If the document that triggered the request names a scheme, say so when you ask for the quote.

Does the Telecommunications Security Act change what you pay?

Not directly. The legal duty sits in the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 and the Electronic Communications (Security Measures) Regulations 2022. Regulation 14 asks for appropriate tests that simulate the techniques of someone seeking to cause a security compromise. It does not name a penetration test or set a number of days.

The Telecommunications Security Code of Practice is guidance. It describes TBEST as a strongly recommended example of threat-led testing, and says the smaller Tier 3 providers are not expected to follow its measures. Our guide to what the Act asks for and when audits happen covers that in full.

How EJN Labs approaches pricing for telecoms providers

EJN Labs is a CREST-accredited UK penetration testing company with a dedicated telecoms and connectivity service. We scope each system by what it does and who uses it, count the days, and give you one fixed price for the defined scope.

We test subscriber portals and billing dashboards, provisioning APIs, SIM management and SIM swap workflows, reseller and wholesale portals, the external network edge, and the internal network including the segregation between provisioning, billing and network operations. Testing runs to agreed rules of engagement around live subscriber and network systems, with daily status updates and findings in your client portal.

Retests are free until findings are resolved, so the price you agree covers the evidence that issues were fixed as well as the evidence that they were found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a penetration test cost for a telecoms provider?

Typically £2,200 to £47,600 in the UK market. A network edge test of 2 to 3 days is £2,200 to £4,200. A subscriber portal with its provisioning API at 14 to 21 days is £15,400 to £29,400. A provider-wide test of 20 to 34 days is £22,000 to £47,600. These ranges use UK day rates of £1,100 to £1,400.

Why does a provisioning API cost more than a simple web page?

Because it has authority over subscribers and the network. Each boundary between provisioning and the downstream systems it triggers has to be tested, along with the roles that can call it. A provisioning API test is typically 4 to 5 days, or £4,400 to £7,000 in the UK market.

Is a retest included in the price?

It depends on the company, so ask for it in writing. With EJN Labs, retests are free until findings are resolved, and there are no out-of-hours, callout, cancellation or rescheduling fees. The quote is a fixed price for a defined scope.

How long does a penetration test take for a telecoms provider?

Between 2 and 34 testing days for the scopes in the table above. A network edge test is typically 2 to 3 days, a reseller portal is 5 days, and a provider-wide test is 20 to 34 days. EJN Labs delivers the report on the last day of testing.

Can testing be scheduled around network changes and billing runs?

Yes. Tell the testing company about network changes, migrations and billing runs when you ask for the quote. EJN Labs offers out of hours slots at no extra charge, and testing against live network infrastructure follows safe testing windows agreed at the scoping call.

Get a fixed price for your network

Tell us which systems are in scope and who has asked for the evidence. Request a fixed-price quote and we will come back with the number of days, the price and the earliest start date.

Related: Best Penetration Testing Companies for UK Telecoms and Connectivity Providers, penetration testing for UK telecoms and connectivity providers, the Telecommunications Security Act and penetration testing, what each provider tier must show, penetration testing cost in the UK and network penetration testing cost.