Spanish operator Telefonica has teamed IBM on a project to use blockchain technology to streamline the telco's business processes.

The application of blockchain will initially focus on improving the reliability and transparency of information collected by different networks when routing international calls. Beyond voice,
Telefonica believes the technology can be applied to many other areas of its activity, helping to build a "trustworthy network of peers" that are involved in the delivery of various services.

Blockchain is increasingly cropping up in the telco and IT space, recently touted by PCCW Global to automate inter-carrier connections and Colt for SDN federation among other recent examples.

Blockchain is also playing a part in goods delivery on Dutch canals. The city of Delft is home to a smart city initiative between Nokia and Dell EMC who are using semi-autonomous, hydrogen-powered barges on existing, underused waterways for last-mile transportation.

In partnership with a number of other organisations, the pair aim to create a Common Information Space platform for compute, storage, data management, connectivity, analytics, Information of Things and blockchain.

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