IEEE GLOBECOM 2019 Workshop on Blockchain in Telecommunications

This IEEE Globecom Telecom Blockchain Workshop will introduce the basic concepts of Blockchain applied to Telecommunications, and will discuss emerging trends and the challenges ahead. It will also provide a forward-looking perspective on the emerging technologies and key applications in this new field.

Blockchain is a decentralized, transparent and trusted database, defined as part of the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) framework, and considered as an enabling technology of new IT enterprise systems and applications. Blockchain in Telecommunications is a new powerful concept that can tremendously improve telecom networking operations and customer-facing processes experience, adding a new layer of authentication, validation and security for all telecom assets and transactions. Telecom companies will benefit most from enterprise, permissioned Blockchain solutions to enhance existing IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operations Technology) solutions to address fraud prevention, customer identity management, mobile transactions settlement and mobile payment, among others, Blockchain is still a nascent technology and as such there are challenges for the wide adoption of Blockchain/DLT as a new enterprise and operational layer. These challenges are around scalability, interoperability, standards, privacy, security, governance and consensus mechanisms that need to be defined and validated for telecom-specific applications.