Tech Mahindra, Microsoft to develop blockchain-based solution to curb spam calls

Software major Tech Mahindra on Monday announced its partnership with Microsoft to create a Blockchain-based solution to fight the spam call menace.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) or spam calls are a major nuisance to telecom subscribers across the country. TRAI has been working with industry stakeholders to curb this menace.

"Blockchain as a technology is a powerful tool to combat the issue of spam calls and fraud risks, to protect user information, as well as the integrity of the telecom sector," Rajesh Dhuddu, Global Practice Leader of Blockchain at Tech Mahindra, said in a statement.

"This Distributed Ledger Technology (commonly known as Blockchain)-based solution will enable enterprises to stop financial frauds and perpetration of misleading financial information by unregistered telecom marketers who rampantly use the SMS service of telcos," Dhuddu added.

The solution will bring all the relevant parties in the ecosystem onto Blockchain, helping telecom service providers and telemarketers take care of preference registration and consent acquisition -- which are in line with the tenets of the TRAI regulation.

Built on Microsoft Azure platform, the solution will be a shared, secured ledger of UCCs distributed across a network of computers, which will ensure a transparent and verifiable system to help companies mitigate UCC on their networks, Tech Mahindra said.

"The intersection of Cloud and Blockchain will ensure a new way of monitoring and enforcing compliance throughout the ecosystem," said Prashant Shukla, National Tech Officer, Microsoft India.

"Through this solution we will be able to help service providers be compliant with the new (TRAI) regulation," Shukla said.

"With a Microsoft Azure Blockchain-powered solution, we will ensure that we mitigate loopholes used by fraudsters and spammers to reach end users," Shukla added.

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