According to media reports, China Telecom Corporation Limited CHA is actively considering plans to develop blockchain-enabled 5G SIM cards in order to secure a greater pie in the market. The move would enable the company to gain additional mileage by capitalizing on the wide proliferation of cryptocurrency amid the increased deployment of 5G technology across the globe. 5G SIM cards

The company has reportedly provided a blueprint of its ambitious plan that aims to develop a SIM card that will support Ethereum and ERC20 tokens — the crypto assets used for trading — and is compatible with all types of smartphones. In addition, it is likely to have superior safety features for secure transactions across 5G networks, including digital identity authentication for decentralized identification and data ownership for sharing data with financial services providers.

Blockchain-enabled 5G SIM cards

5G is billed as the technology of the future with faster download speed and seamless transfer of data. Leveraging state-of-the-art communication network architectures, 5G is touted to be the primary catalyst for next-generation IoT services. These include connected cars coupled with augmented reality and virtual reality platforms, smart cities, and connected devices that revolutionize key industry verticals.

Battle for 5G supremacy

Moreover, 5G is likely to augment the telecommunications industry’s scalability, security and universal mobility, which is expected to propel the wide proliferation of IoT. The telecom firms are facilitating its customers to move away from an economy-of-scale network operating model to demand-driven operations and seamlessly migrate to 5G by offering easy programmability and flexible automation.

Per data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, China is likely to invest up to $411 billion in 5G over the next decade. This is likely to result in data deluge, exposing the network to potential threats from cyber espionage and data theft. Although the communist nation has taken a hard stance on the usage of blockchain, China Telecom is betting big on this technology as it is widely believed to offer superior safety features, regardless of data volume.

As the battle for 5G supremacy intensifies, various countries are increasingly devising newer avenues to outsmart rivals. These include out-of-the-box ideas for innovative product concepts to redefining strategies within a framework following the changing demands of customers. It remains to be seen which country achieves the coveted technological dominance in this race.