A number of multinational telecoms firms have joined the Carrier Blockchain Study Group (CBSG) to advance efforts in applying blockchain technology within the industry.

According to today's announcement by Japan's SoftBank, the study group will see United Arab Emirates' telco Etisalat, Spain's Telefonica and Philippine's PLDT as new members. In addition, two firms from South Korea will also join the initiative: KT Corporation and LG Uplus, a subsidiary of LG.

As CoinDesk has reported previously, the CBSG was established in September last year – a move led by several global major telecoms firms including SoftBank and U.S. firm Sprint in order to research and develop an international cross-carrier blockchain platform and ecosystem.

Wonseok Cho, vice president of LG Uplus, said in the statement:

In the release, the group also touts its recent success in demonstrating a cross-carrier blockchain payment system to initiate phone bill top-ups, as well as mobile wallet roaming and remittances.

Further down the road, the CBSG plans to trial a blockchain platform to power mobile wallet roaming among Japanese and Taiwanese travelers in 2018. The new members are also expected to pilot CBSG's existing blockchain use cases in their businesses.

Technician miniature image via Shutterstock