Telefonica piloting blockchain across 8,000 companies

Telefonica’s announced partnership with APTE will give around 8,000 companies from Spain the chance to access their blockchain network.

The telco will deploy Hyperledger-based blockchain nodes at APTE’s 52 sites, giving companies access to a secure, decentralised blockchain network.

During the three-month trial period, companies will be encouraged to develop their own applications for use on the blockchain network, as well as allowing them to experiment with their own digital tokens. 

Telefonica’s ‘Cloud Garden’ service will facilitate trial. This service was launched in collaboration with IBM in April last year and is designed to simplify companies’ adoption of emerging technologies, including blockchain, as well as AI and big data. 

"Companies housed in these scientific and technological parks will be able to benefit from the advantages of blockchain technology without having to face the inherent complexity of it, or have to dedicate resources to acquire the knowledge necessary to make the most of it," said Maria Jesus Almazor, CEO of Telefonica Spain.

Blockchain is seeing wide adoption by a range of industries, especially in the field of IoT, where 75% of IoT technology adopters in the US already use blockchain or are planning to by 2020.

This move comes as another step from Telefonica in the direction of an archetypal digital service provider. The company stated in November last year that it would be scaling back its focus on Latin America – with the exception of Brazil – in an effort to make the business leaner and more agile for customers in Europe. Blockchain, it appears, is part of this strategy.

Blockchain is receiving increasing attention from multiple telcos, with Deutsche Telekom notably launching Europe’s first Bockchain as a Service marketplace via their subsidiary company, T-Systems late last year.