IBM Might Provide its DLT Solutions to Indian Telecoms

International Business Machines (IBM) will work with Indian telecom firms to provide its blockchain solutions for DNC service and number portability.

US tech company IBM is about to collaborate with Indian telecoms by offering its blockchain technology for mobile number portability (MNP) and ‘Do Not Call’ (DNC) registries, The Economic Times reports.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and local telecom firms have worked with tech companies, including with IBM, to understand how distributed ledger technology (DLT) might deal with coordination issues among parties in the context of number portability and DNC registries.

Sriram Raghavan, VP of IBM Research, explained:

“We have completed proof of concepts and pilots with all the major telecom providers and with Trai in this space. We anticipate that, going into the New Year, we’ll start to see blockchain solutions getting rolled out.”

However, Raghavan didn’t mention any telecom firm involved in the trials. He said that the blockchain platform would record all relevant data, such as the customer consent for DNC service and whether the consent is respected. The IBM executive added:

“This gives Trai, as a regulator, more visibility to spot malfeasance quickly. Mobile number portability, too, is a multi-party process involving a minimum of two telecom providers where blockchain can play a role.”

In February of this year, Trai released the results of a series of proof of concepts focused on blockchain. Based on the findings, the regulator drafted a set of regulations. Next, telecom firms have to pick IT vendors and develop the system based on Trai’s guidelines.

“We had a meeting (on Monday) and the telecom service providers are now in the process of aligning their vendors,” a Trai executive revealed.

He stated that the telecom companies had pledged to deploy a blockchain-based system in the coming months, with DNC service acting as the first use case.

On Tuesday, it was reported that IBM partnered with Nigerian startup Hallo Tractor to trial DLT for a crop management system. Elsewhere, the US tech giant partnered with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to develop a new blockchain transaction management system for oil and gas production.