Indian Mobile Carrier Service Providers Vodafone and Jio Deploying Blockchain

By Prashant Jha

Indian Mobile Carrier service providers Vodafone-Idea and Jio have decided to deploy blockchain technology in partnership with Tanla Solutions and Tech Mahindra respectively. The step is set to impact almost a billion users of the two service providers and give a big respite to the consumers against spam calls and messages.

The deployment of the tech is in line with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) regulations, and the deployments would begin by this month end. Consumers can send their preferences against the spam calls and messages to their respective service providers, and unlike before where even hundreds of requests did not really fetch any fruitful result, the use of blockchain is set to change that.

Vodafone and Idea which has merged into one company boasts of a user base of around 395 million while Jio has around 307 million users. Another major carrier Bharti Airtel with 325 million userbases has already applied for a similar tech deployment in association with IBM.

Vodafone-Idea has inked a multi-year deal with Tanla Solutions for the deployment of the technology who will also be responsible for the sandbox regulatory program along with the production platform. A company spokesperson said that the firm is focused on using the latest modern day technology to make lives easier for its users.

A Tania spokesperson commented on the recent partnership and the role of Tania solution. He said,

“Deployment is underway and will help in arresting spam and fraud-related commercial communications for Vodafone Idea subscribers “

Tania would also be helping Airtel in the deployment of the network, however, IBM would play the major role in the deployment process, being the primary vendor in the partnership.

Jio has partnered with Tech Mahindra for the deployment of the blockchain tech, however, neither firm confirmed or commented on the use of the tech.

Once the deployment is complete, it would become the largest use case of blockchain in the telecom sector with around a billion users. The next step for these telecom giants could be the use of tech for mobile number portability interconnect settlements, supply chain streamlining and content partner settlements among others.