Two technologies at the center of my attention are blockchain and telecommunications. Telecommunications because I've invested years, if not most of my life, into that industry, filing patents, etc and blockchain is another new technology that has been garnering attention recently and is increasingly exciting me.

A few weeks back, it dawned on me to consider how these two could work together.

The need for any business to be able to keep up with blockchain is an undeniable fact. It is changing the way we do business and it will continue to do so. The telecom industry is no exception. Whether it’s about making payments, managing assets or managing accounts, blockchain is something that can be used.

I looked at a few current telecom sector pain concerns and why they might consider Blockchain as a tech input to fix them in the future:

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Digital identity management - Trust is something that our telecom Operators have earned over the years, so it's no surprise that consumers are consistently entrusting telecoms with their personal information. We've come to a point where we're able to trust them with our data across different forms of communication whether that be a phone or the internet and continue to use them for all our digital needs. There will surely be initiatives by Govt agencies in the coming future to build identities on the blockchain and it can be done with or without telecom Operators, but if Operators make the first move they will be better positioned to monetize it in the future as a new revenue stream. Telcos have access to a lot of personal information when subscribers buy SIM cards and they are in an optimal position for blockchain-based digital identity management which is more secure, and verifiable, and can be used as a new financial stream to help support operations. This data can be one source of truth and If I can think outside the box, it can create an ecosystem that avoids the hassle of needing to travel with a passport, driver's license, or other forms of identification as all information is secured on the Blockchain network. In the future of web 3.0, your digital identity will be like your most prized NFT (Non-Fungible Token).

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**Partner settlement for digital services - **I've always argued that partners are getting more important when it comes to the Telecom industry. Teleco’s are now aware of the value of partners in this digital age. Service bundling gives telcos a unique edge. Getting partners onboarded, their contracts initialised and settled at the end of the cycle can be automated with blockchain/ Smart Contract-based partner-onboarding software and settlement systems. This can exponentially benefit both Telco and the partner as the partner gets Telco's potential reach and telcos are able to offer unique bundling to their customers - all based on a Smart contract-based Blockchain Network.

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**Data Sharing on a P2P Network - **We all have data plans that come with a definite quantity of data. How much of your data plan do you actually use on an average basis? What about an idea where one can earn money by selling unused data to people who need it? Imagine how you would be able to save up and make some extra cash if we had a network set up where you were able to sell your extra mobile data to other users in return for crypto tokens? Particularly with 5G rollouts, which would be an intriguing idea that would benefit both users and Telco’s.This would be a win-win situation for the users and Telcos because the latter can put in place systems where they can share their unused data with end customers in exchange for money/tokens.

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Blockchain-based roaming settlement - It’s time for the roaming agreements between operators to move on and benefit from some positive disruption. With the help of an Online Smart contract-based solution, blocks can be settled more quickly, without the need for human intervention, which makes it far less time-consuming. Network providers will be able to deal with both consumer and carrier traffic more efficiently than before plus resolve issues such as fake traffic.

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Digital wallets, micro-payments, and tokens - Almost every telecom has collaborated with or built a wallet. They were late than Fintech Players and cannot afford to repeat the same mistake again. With mobile micro payments becoming ever more essential, they need an upgrade that’s safer, more reliable, and futuristic. Given the current financial climate, it's best for them to think about integrating newer technologies into traditional products - for example, by offering loyalty rewards as tokens in the wallets - so that they can continue attracting customers without having to compete directly with fintech start-ups.

The telecom industry is huge and has been around for ages and will continue to change and evolve as time goes on. I truly believe that blockchain technology has the capability of altering how our telecom world operates. These are just the top 5 use cases that I feel would be the first ones that Telcos will/should adopt in this ever-changing and competitive environment.

I hope you found this post useful, please leave a comment below if you have interesting use cases or feel like you would like to share your opinion.