R3 and the CBAN

Corda is a selected technology of the Communication Business Automation Network

With the official launch of the CBAN on the 13th of January, we enter into an exciting and critical period for the deployment of enterprise blockchain software in the telecommunications sector. The CBAN is a remarkable undertaking by a group of 13 global carriers collaborating with technology providers to launch a transformational interoperability and settlement platform for the global ICT Service Provider industry.

R3 has been supporting this group since its first workshop, and we are proud to see the CBAN officially launch. The CBAN has set a huge goal and has a great opportunity ahead of it — to automate inter-carrier business processes, reconciliation, and settlement to deliver new growth and revenue opportunities for communications providers.

For carriers across the industry today, settlement, fraud, and roaming are multi-billion dollar problems that exist because there is a lack of transparency, accountability, and automation in the interconnectivity markets. The fact that end-to-end service provision can take weeks and often requires cumbersome manual processes, creates unnecessary cost and poor customer experience. The need to reconcile across multiple opaque parties to settle transactions creates inefficiencies, errors and an environment susceptible to fraud. These can be solved through the implementation of blockchain technology that can deliver transparency, immutability, and automation into the system.

Corda and CBAN

Corda’s unique enterprise-grade architecture has made it well suited for the CBAN and technology vendors building applications for the network.

  • It is an open-source platform with broad adoption across a growing community of technology providers and developers.
  • Corda’s peer-to-peer transaction architecture means it is able to provide enterprise users with the privacy they require, whilst also being able to deliver on the security, performance and scalability needs of users.
  • R3 has developed the tools needed to support interoperable applications across business networks and platforms.
Corda is a selected platform of the CBAN and provides technology developers with the enterprise-grade tools needed

Moving from MVPs to Live Applications

The CBAN is focussed on supporting the development of applications for selected MVPs to be brought to production this year.

  • Wholesale Voice Settlement
  • Wholesale Voice Fraud Detection and Mitigation
  • Data on Demand

R3 is working with technology providers to develop applications on Corda which deliver significant value to communication service providers across these MVPs and more broadly. R3 has experience working with over 350 firms on over 130 enterprise blockchain projects across multiple industries. Our team of blockchain engineers and advisors support application builders with good practices, checklists, and considerations for the design, development, and deployment of enterprise blockchain solutions.

If you are building new distributed apps for CSPs, whether to add a new service to your existing offering or to build a new business application for the industry, we can provide engineering and advisory expertise to help you validate your use case, support your design and build, and de-risk your deployment. Get in touch for a free discovery session.

The CBAN Going Forward

The rate of progress in the development of enterprise blockchain solutions is breathtaking. In under a year, we have gone from initial group meetings to the incorporation of the CBAN, supported by a group of leading communications service and technology providers, and the publication of the first reference architecture white paper.

2020 promises to be a busy and productive year ahead for the CBAN and its participants. We look forward to working with all of the stakeholders to deliver on the promise of an open, multi-vendor, multi-solution and enterprise-ready blockchain network.

Making this happen in 2020 will deliver significant value to the communications service industry and its customers across the initial MVPs — wholesale voice settlement, voice fraud detection & mitigation and data-on-demand. However, this is just the start, and as the CBAN grows and develops we expect to see many more use cases be brought to market, bringing together a vibrant ecosystem, enterprise blockchain technology, and innovation to deliver industry-wide transformation.