Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for the telecom sector. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 5 promising blockchain startups.
Heat Map: 5 Top Blockchain Startups In Telecom
Using our StartUs Insights Platform, covering 1.116.000+ startups & emerging companies, we looked at innovation in the field of telecommunications. For this research, we identified 70 relevant solutions and picked 5 to showcase below. These companies were chosen based on a data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, and technology among others. Depending on your specific criteria, the top picks might look entirely different.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 startups & emerging companies developing innovative blockchain solutions. Moreover, the Heat Map reveals regions that observe a high startup activity and illustrates the geographic distribution of all 70 companies we analyzed for this specific topic.
Telcoin – Smartphone-Based Money Transfers
In many developing countries, the market penetration of banking products is much lower, in comparison to the prevalence of smartphones. Telecom companies identify this gap and provide banking services with the help of blockchain technology. Startups are presently developing blockchain solutions that enable secure smartphone-based money transfers that do not require formal banking documentation.
Japanese startup Telcoin leverages blockchain to enable telecommunication operators to provide money transfer services. Telcoin Wallet is built on the Ethereum blockchain, and mobile users make global transfers instantly, irrespective of local mobile service providers. The startup issues TEL (native tokens) to telecom operators, based on the volume of their transactions and integration capabilities. This service also offers considerably lower foreign exchange rates, making it an affordable money transfer option.
Ammbr – Autonomous Bandwidth Sharing
Just being connected to the Internet enables a variety of actions including data and file sharing, among other communication capabilities. On one hand, people do not have proper access to a fast and reliable internet connection, and on the other, people sharing the internet connection publicly raises privacy concerns. Telecom startups are working on blockchain-based solutions to address both the access and security challenges facing the industry.
Singapore-based startup Ammbr develops a wireless mesh network for internet sharing. With the help of blockchain, the startup enables users to connect their routers to a wireless mesh network. Ammbr uses AMR, a cryptocurrency, capable of autonomously buying and selling internet bandwidth. This also enables the startup to support a large volume of micro-transactions, in turn, ensuring a smooth and seamless exchange of internet bandwidth between users.
QLC chain – Text Message-Based Billing
Telecom operators, in order to improve overall customer experience, provide value-added services such as mobile payments. These services help telecom companies reduce costs, attract new customers, and also enable customer retention. Investment in point-of-sale (POS) machines becomes redundant with the advent of mobile phone payments and enables telecom operators to drive profitability.
Chinese startup QLC Chain utilizes blockchain technology to provide network-as-a-service (NaaS) solutions. This network utilizes a multidimensional block-lattice structure embedded with telecommunication capabilities. Telecom operators use this ledger as a short message service (SMS)-based billing system that allows for instant clearance and secure transactions. The startup’s suite of wallets also supports the NEO Enhancement Protocol (NEP)-5.
BitMinutes – Decentralized Mobile Minutes
The need for making payments instantly, while ensuring transparency, results in the development of various blockchain-based solutions. Though it is proven to be secure and transparent, cryptocurrency has still not penetrated into economies as was initially predicted. Startups today are working on solutions that would enable telecom operators and users to transact quickly and safely using blockchain, for their everyday transactions.
The US-based startup BitMinutes uses its proprietary smart token technology to provide end-users with prepaid minutes. With the help of both traditional and blockchain-based payment networks, the startup provides BitMinute utility tokens (BMTs) to its users. The startup issues BMTs to senders only with a custom unique identifier (UID) in order to prevent fraud and money laundering. These BMTs are later sent to the recipient’s mobile wallet in a text message, email, or using a smartphone app.
FIX Network – Cellular Device Security
Due to the increase in the volume, variety, and collection methods of data, there is also a rise in the demand for cybersecurity solutions. Mobile security solutions ensure the protection of information stored in mobile devices and also enable real-time protection from cyberattacks. Many startups are making use of blockchain technology to provide fraud prevention solutions for the telecom sector as well.
Lithuanian startup FIX Network provides blockchain-based solutions for cellular security. With the help of a decentralized ledger, the startup enables smooth transitions between devices for users. A secure blockchain protocol stores the private keys and personal data, in turn, allowing mobile operators to protect their customers’ digital currencies and identities.
What About The Other 65 Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence so you can achieve your goals faster. The 5 blockchain startups in telecom showcased above are promising examples out of 70 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria, get in touch.
