According to reports, the telecoms subsidiary of Softbank Group confirmed its membership in recent days – a move which, given Softbank's investments in emerging tech, has been touted as having the potential to boost blockchain development and adoption in the telecoms space.
JSTA's other members include NTT Data consulting subsidiary Qunie, Deloitte Tohmatsu, Tokai Tokyo Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Research, Hanwha Asset Management, Mitsui Fudosan, and real estate firm LIFULL.
It's far from Softbank's first foray into blockchain. The firm co-founded the Carrier Blockchain Study Group (CBSG) Consortium in 2017 and the following year completed a test on cross-carrier mobile payments using blockchain and RCS.
Blockchain in telecoms
The news broke as new figures predicted the market for blockchain in the telecommunication and post service is on track to record revenues of US$641.8 million to 2023.
Buoyed by a CAGR of 59.3% between 2017 and 2023, the sector will be driven by necessary advances in processing roaming, identity management, billing, payments and other transactions.
Assessing the restraints, system integration and uncertainty around regulations were highlighted as primary barriers to progress.
The figures and analysis were published by Market Research Future, which said transformation of the telecommunication and post service industry towards a digitalised and virtualised setting "is a major stimulus for [blockchain] growth".
