Turkcell infuses blockchain into identity management
A Turkish company called Turkcell has released a new identity management solution that works by harnessing the power of the blockchain.
At Mobile World Congress this week, Turkcell introduced its blockchain service. It says blockchain is a new technology that can made a difference through more secure and faster transactions.
The company successfully expanded its utilisation services within the telecommunications industry to include roaming clearance, identity management, and donation solutions.
Existing ID Management solutions require users to create different accounts for different platforms or to use personal data the user has already shared with third parties.
The former requires the user to remember details of each account created, and the latter requires the user to share personal data with a third party not involved in the login process.
Turkcell says its blockchain solution takes a different approach: It gives the user control over personal data and ensures personal privacy with the GDPR compliant ID Management solution.
That ID Management solution stores the information required for verification of users in the blockchain network and removes additional identity verifications.
This technology also provides opportunities for new use cases for the enterprise.
Turkcell's blockchain-enabled donation use case incorporates ID Management solution to verify the donation eligibility of people in need.
Turkcell helps to rebuild trust in donations by providing a secure verification solution. The solution offers an end-to-end Turkcell experience – customers can donate via the communication and life platform BiP and use Paycell as a payment medium.
"Our customers demand transparency and trust in every step of our processes. In this sense, using blockchain technology is essential to improve customer experience of our digital services and solutions, which remains as top priority in the design of our services," comments Turkcell customer experience and information technologies executive vice president Serkan Ozturk.
Ozturk believes that the customer experience should be at the center of technology for companies that choose to be digital operators.
"This is why we joined the global blockchain consortium of telecom carriers, The Carrier Blockchain Study Group (CBSG)," Ozturk continues.
"Our blockchain solutions provide secure digital payments, barter systems, identity verification and IoT applications. These efforts will help us improve our digital services and raise the bar in customer experience," he concludes.
Turkcell currently shares its blockchain network with Lifecell and Lifecell's Belarus-based telecom operator partner BeST, and is in talks with study groups and other telecom operators to further expand the network.
