SoftBank, LG U+, TBCASoft and Far EasTone to trial cross-carrier blockchain-based payment platform

South Korea-based LG Uplus Corp., Japan’s SoftBank, Taiwan’s Far EasTone, and U.S.-based TBCASoft are joining forces to trial a cross-carrier blockchain platform.

All four project participants are the members of the Carrier Blockchain Study Group (CBSG), a global blockchain consortium of telecom carriers.

The cross-carrier blockchain platform, called CCPS (Cross-Carrier Payment System), will enable subscribers from one carrier to complete purchase transactions on the payment network(s) of another carrier, which are part of CBSG. It provides a prompt settlement mechanism in cross-carrier services that potentially reduces risk in foreign currency exchange.

For instance, LG Uplus mobile subscribers that are part of the trial will be able to travel to Taiwan and Japan and purchase goods at selected retailers using their mobile phones.

“FET is glad to work with SoftBank and LG Uplus to develop wallet roaming services. We believe experiences gained from this collaboration can be applied to other additional services on blockchain as well, thus further expanding our consumer smart services portfolios,” Mike Lee, Senior Advisor of Far EasTone said.

According to an official release dated September 13, the trial will use TBCASoft’s blockchain technology. It will use direct carrier billing where transactions are conveniently billed and paid through their carrier in their home-currency, potentially avoiding credit card overseas transaction-fees.

“As the CBSG Consortium grows faster than expected, we are entering a new stage of launching real world trials that demonstrate the commercial readiness of the TBCASoft blockchain platform. The Cross-Carrier Payment System is the first in a series of blockchain-based solutions. Identity and authentication are coming next – another area our Consortium Members are ideally situated to disrupt,” Ling Wu, Founder and CEO of TBCASoft and Co-Chairman of the CBSG Consortium said.

The trial service is scheduled to start in early 2019. The announcement comes on the heels of another recently announced trial on a Proof of Concept (PoC) for a Rich Communications Service (RCS) and blockchain-based mobile payments service.