Major telecom companies from the ITW Global Leaders' Forum (GLF) have joined a Blockchain Settlement Trial that aims to reduce costs in the telecoms industry. BT, HGC Global Communications, Telefonica and Telstra are among them.
Colt Technology Services and PCCW Global, the international operating division of Hong Kong's premier telecommunications service provider HKT, in collaboration with blockchain start up Clear, had revealed in March that they developed a Proof of Concept (PoC) to automate the inter-carrier settlement of wholesale international services through the use of blockchain technology. The PoC was able to reduce this labour intensive and costly process from hours to minutes.
The initial effort focused on the settlement of wholesale voice minutes and used historical data in tests.
The latest trial further progressed the blockchain PoC by ingesting actual live data feeds into the ledger, enabling traffic to be automatically verified and settled between carriers.
While the original two carriers are now using live data to verify and settle traffic, other members of the GLF have also seized the opportunity to get involved in the initiative, with a view to expanding the bilateral testing between Colt and PCCW Global to encompass a multilateral series of relationships between major service providers in the telecommunications industry.
Carl Grivner, Chief Executive Officer of Colt, said the second iteration of the PoC accurately matched and settled wholesale traffic independently with live information. "It also signals the future of telecoms, whereby previously intensive manual practices can be securely automated to allow businesses such as Colt to invest resources into driving both our and our customer's businesses forward," he added.
by Joji Xavier
For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com