Distributed Ledger Technologies for IoT: Learnings & Operator Role

Distributed ledger technology has become a topic of significant interest for use in the Internet of Things. The GSMA published the document ‘Opportunities and Use Cases for Distributed Ledger Technologies in the IoT’ in September 2018 and has since been working with mobile network operators to develop practical case studies and proofs of concept.

The technology platforms for distributed ledgers are proving their effectiveness for a wide range of applications, and meanwhile there is strong associated interest in how these can be incorporated into products and services offered by mobile network operators.

The intent of this document is to review the experiences from the first public deployment of distributed ledgers applied to the IoT as a proof of concept by China Unicom and the GSMA, and explore the new roles that mobile network operators can reasonably adopt with this relatively new technology. Of key interest is how mobile network operators can use distributed ledger technologies to open up new value generation opportunities for the IoT. Operators are starting to launch blockchain (i.e. distributed ledger) related products and services, for example Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems launch of a “Blockchain as a Service” marketplace which supports key applications such as multi-party supply chains […]