“Blockchain allows us to simplify the relationship between carriers and focus our efforts on delivering the best experience for end users," said Gary Carr, chief financial officer of Colt and member of the board of _CBAN.
"_CBAN is driving the standardisation of blockchain across the industry and this latest innovation delivers financial, operational and customer experience improvements from day one.”
_CBAN, an organisation formed by global ICT service providers to develop automated settlement for the communications industry, and its members Colt Technology Services, Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier, PCCW Global and Vodafone have developed the Data on Demand Blockchain to establish a fully digitalised quote-to-cash service delivery process.
“Digitalisation of carrier services is key for improved customer experience and efficient processes in the telco industry."
"Blockchain-enabled settlement is a pivotal element in the end-to-end digitalisation journey," added Bertold Frech, VP of business steering & marketing at Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier and member of the board of _CBAN.
This latest innovation will help to drive further standardisation across the network in collaboration with _CBAN and in close relation to GSMA, MEF, ETSI and other standards developing organisations. The company will also use ClearX’s blockchain solution to ensure real-time service between the partners’ inventories.
“We are delighted to collaborate with other _CBAN members to pioneer the use of blockchain technology for the automated settlement of network services," said Marc Halbfinger, CEO of PCCW Global and member of the board of _CBAN.
"This technology innovation is crucial for delivering end-to-end automation, which is fundamentally transforming the telecoms industry by reimagining how our customers provision and pay for services.”
The news comes as ICT provider processes are comprised of multiple legacy systems, as a result multiple partners in a transaction keep their own separate records using their own proprietary data model.
Resources are wasted to update and reconcile each other's records and there is no unified data model or process that can tie operations and commerce together.
As a solution, blockchain can be used to create a shared, distributed ledger which has a confidential merged record of company transactions.
“The solution allows businesses to establish greater data integrity, improving quality and ultimately efficiency for customers," said Diego Massidda, CEO of Vodafone Carrier & Partner Services.
"It paves the way towards a fully digitised quote to cash journey, making service delivery automation an attainable goal, which is very much needed in an ever more dynamic business environment; where our customers demand greater flexibility and agility from their communications providers.
“We are excited to bring our state-of-the-art blockchain based platform to elevate the data market together with the innovative CBAN members," added Eran Haggiag, co-founder & CEO of ClearX.
"This enables carriers to access a new environment that will allow transacting automatically and serving customers better and much faster than before. Excited to see how far we can go when working together.”
