Page 82 - SAMENA Trends - Jan-Mar 2024

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

settlements primarily for voice and SMS transparent transactions and data sharing more, for each transaction. All transactions
data. For more than 30 years, the industry among multiple parties. Its inherent on a blockchain are transparent and
has used TAP for the exchange of records. transparency can help build trust among immutable. Once a transaction is recorded,
But this format had many limitations operators. Every transaction is recorded it cannot be altered.
due to its rigid formats and exchange on the blockchain, providing a clear audit
schedules. For one, it has difficulties with trail. This can help resolve disputes and Unlike traditional databases, blockchain is
the large numbers of events generated by ensure accurate billing. And through a decentralized, meaning there’s no single
5G, in particular the growing number of decentralized design and cryptographic point of failure or single source of data to
IoT devices. Secondly, with TAP, there is no security measures, it can protect against hack. This makes it difficult for hackers to
rating model that can handle these micro fraud and unauthorized access, enhancing compromise the system. The decentralized
transactions. As a result, the records are the security of roaming services. The killer nature and cryptographic security measures
dropped and revenues are not recognized. feature of an architecture incorporating employed by blockchain technology protect
In addition, TAP’s event-based charging blockchain is the immutability of the against fraud and unauthorized access.
mechanisms are not suited to monetize shared transactions. Once a transaction is The automation and efficiency
new business models and could lead to initiated by the “smart contract,” the trusted characteristics of a blockchain can also
billing errors. Furthermore, TAP cannot participants will validate via their own reduce outsourcing and help to minimize
support future charging models, especially hosted nodes, and the transaction becomes associated costs with the settlement
for 5G Standalone (SA) services. part of the immutable record, chained process.
together with all previous transactions in
The introduction of new technologies perpetuity. How blockchain address monetization
such as VoLTE and 5G has increased The introduction of blockchain allows
business complexity, leading to new Blockchain can enhance the telecom businesses to address the challenges of
pricing structures and potentially longer industry by providing solutions for monetization in the new 5G ecosystem,
negotiation processes that can take challenges such as spectrum sharing, by allowing carriers to move from a retail
months. Developing interoperability for fraud detection and prevention, commercial model to a more wholesale
operators offering 5G roaming services international roaming settlement, model. Blockchain technology can
can be resource-intensive, time-consuming, network operation management, number significantly transform the monetization
and costly. Consequently, the evolution selection management, and supply chain of mobile roaming applications. One of
of international roaming settlement management. It can also enable new the main ways it does this is by facilitating
technologies continues to be a complex business models and services for telecom the handling of high-volume transactions
and challenging process. operators and customers, such as data that occur when millions of people travel
access control, device identity, data internationally or make international calls.
The transition to blockchain exchange, and tokenized incentives. Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology
Blockchain technology can significantly can streamline these operations, lifting
enhance international roaming Benefits of blockchain carriers from the burden of manual
requirements by providing a decentralized, Blockchain can benefit the end users of processes, legal disputes, and unforeseen
secure, and transparent platform for telecom services by providing them with costs.
data management and transaction more choices, control, transparency, privacy,
processing. By streamlining Roaming and value. It can also empower them to Aggregated traffic, with the rise of M2M
Contract Agreements as “smart contracts,” participate in the telecom ecosystem as and NBIoT traffic, represents a vast
blockchain can modernize the process of data producers, consumers, and owners. increase in the number of records being
creating new agreements with existing and It also provides greater efficiency, security, created. Identifying and charging for these
new roaming partners. It can automate and cost savings. smaller packets of data that are routinely
the operations of the wholesale roaming overlooked, as they do not fit into TAP
settlement by reducing the complexity In addition, blockchain can streamline charging models, can add up to significant
and time involved in managing these the transactional process, save time on amounts of missed revenue. Aggregating
agreements. It does this by automating settlement and dispute management, and this data and being able to exchange via
the many manual processes involved enable telecom companies to manage blockchain is creating new monetization
in roaming services, such as billing and contracts and financial reconciliations streams, with lower latency and increased
settlement, leading to increased efficiency more efficiently. efficiencies.
and reduced costs. By providing a clear audit trail of all
transactions, blockchain allows for greater Blockchain and green uses
Without the need for intermediaries or transparency of transactions, fostering There are rumblings in the industry
central authorities, blockchain performs as trust among operators. It allows parties to about how blockchains are bad for the
a distributed system that enables secure, see the same data values, volumes, and environment. But this is only the case

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