On 22 October, technology behemoth IBM, telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank, and blockchain platform TBCASoft made an announcement about a collaboration for adopting a cross-carrier telecommunications blockchain payment solution.

According to news reports, the partnership aims to allow carriers to use blockchain through the Carrier Blockchain Study Group (CBSG) Consortium that was founded by SoftBank and TBCASoft. TBCASoft has reportedly already created a cross-carrier blockchain consisting of eighteen participants.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), incorporated on 16 June 1911, is a technology firm. It operates across five segments, such as Global Business Services (GBS), Cognitive Solutions, Systems, Global Financing, and Technology Services and Cloud Platforms. IBM is regarded as the world’s biggest technology company and the second-most valuable in terms of the global brand. It provides infrastructure, hosting, and consulting services from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.

The Cross-Carrier Payment System (CCPS) is the first application that CBSG intends to launch. This operates on the aim of enabling mobile service users to make use of their phones for payments with local merchants abroad. As stated by LingWu, the Founder and CEO of TBCASoft:

“As the global pioneer of cross-carrier blockchain solutions, we have been working closely with leading telecommunication carriers in the past three years under the CBSG Consortium to drive adoption of the CCPS platform. […] We believe that this collaboration will bring greater combined values to our customers, partners, and the telecommunication industry.”

TBCASoft is a US-based company that develops innovative blockchain technology for telecommunication carriers. It is located in Sunnyvale, California, which is the centre of Silicon Valley. It creates scalable, secure, easy to support, easy to use, cost-effective blockchain-enabled services by partnering with global telecom carriers. It designs a high-performance secured consortium-based blockchain platform, especially for the telecommunication industry. This platform aids telecom carriers in establishing cross-carrier business and providing ubiquitous services to global subscribers.

CCPS allows for interoperability across several telecom carriers that must, in turn, establish a network of merchants that are accessible to mobile service customers. It must be noted that SoftBank is the first carrier to adopt CCPS, and it aims to launch the payment system in 2020 in Tokyo.

As commented by Utpal Mangla, the Vice President and Partner for blockchain, IBM Telecommunications Services, “Leveraging a telecommunications blockchain network that can enable improved cross-carrier relations, cross-carrier payment can help transform the way telecom carriers transact with partners and customers to deliver innovative payment solutions.”

IBM will reportedly use the experience it has gained by working with 80% of the world’s telecommunication carriers to support scaling the ecosystem. TBCASoft also plans to use IBM’s blockchain platform to support multiple cloud environments and to offer open technology.

SoftBank is a Japanese multinational conglomerate firm that is headquartered in Tokyo. It currently operates in segments such as the internet, e-commerce, finance, media and marketing, broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, semiconductor design, technology services, and other businesses.

As per recent news reports, Samsung Pay, the mobile payments service of tech giant Samsung, partnered with the payments platform Finablr, a member of Ripple’s RippleNet, for offering the Money Transfer feature for cross-border payments to users of its app.