Indian IT firm Tech Mahindra to launch blockchain-based anti-spam call solution

Indian IT giant Tech Mahindra is going to roll out a blockchain-based solution to protect mobile phone subscribers from unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) or spam calls, Business Today reported.

In July 2018, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) notified new regulations aimed at curbing the menace of unsolicited calls. The new regulations encourage adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT), commonly known as blockchain, to ensure regulatory compliance while allowing innovation in the market, TRAI said at the time.

The following month, Tech Mahindra teamed up with Microsoft to build a DLT-based solution to address this problem of spam calls, conforming to the regulations issued by the TRAI.

Rajesh Dhuddu, Global Practice Leader - Blockchain, Tech Mahindra, said that the solution is in line with the regulations that will come into effect by the end of this month. He did not specify the telcos whose subscribers would benefit from the solution, but said that the company is in talks with telco operators overseas to tap global customers for this offering.

The solution is not based on 'consent as a service' model, Dhuddu explained. Speaking of the revenue model, he said that it is based on “one-time implementation followed by managed services.”

The blockchain-based solution, he said, would enable telecom providers to prevent unauthorized access of their subscribers' data. It could be implemented in different verticals such as health, to maintain patient health records, or in media and entertainment industry to protect IPR.

Given the estimated 800 million subscribers who would be impacted by the TRAI regulation, this could mark the world's largest use case for a blockchain solution in this space, he added.

Last month, Tech Mahindra partnered with Samsung SDS to drive the global expansion of the latter’s enterprise blockchain platform ‘Nexledger’.