Telecoms giant SoftBank Group is lobbying for greater industry Blockchain uptake with a bespoke consortium and products.
Japanese Internet conglomerate SoftBank Group has created a dedicated consortium to push for greater Blockchain adoption in the telecoms sector.
Known as the Carrier Blockchain Study Group (CBSG), the project is a three-way venture with subsidiary US telecoms operator Sprint and industry Blockchain developer TBCASOFT.
SoftBank is an increasingly prominent player on the Blockchain scene in Asia and the Middle East, not least with its $100 bln investment fund with Saudi Arabia last year, which directly aimed at supporting fintech innovation.
With a much more direct foray, the first task for the Study Group was a payment-related Blockchain product, VentureBeat reports.
“CBSG is leading the telecommunication industry’s understanding and development of Blockchain technology,” the publication quotes Doug Garland, Sprint’s vice president of innovation and partnerships as saying.
“The disruptive potential of Blockchain on a global scale will be fully realized when carriers work together and leverage the new platform and ecosystem.”
The payments prototype used Blockchain as a method of allowing top-ups of balances across multiple carriers.
The technology is poised to make serious inroads into mass communications processes in light of the increasingly serious hacking attempts seen by industry giants this year.
Telefonica, the European umbrella operator of multiple home and mobile networks across the continent, was one of the first victims of the WannaCry cyberattack which paralyzed computer systems in May.
