SOFTBANK makes a system of international remittance and settlement using block chain technology which is the basis of virtual currency. In collaboration with overseas communications major companies such as Sprint Corp. and KT of Korea, we aim to put into practical use such as settlement service which adds payment of purchased products to mobile phone fee. In fiscal year 2018 we will conduct demonstration experiments for tourists in Japan and Taiwan.
In September 2017, SOFTBANK launched the block chain consortium "CBSG" with Sprint of the Softbank Group and Far Easton of Taiwan. It is an organization aiming to provide highly secure settlement services, and recently five other telecommunications carriers such as KT and Spain's Telefonica have also announced that they will work with CBSG.
For example, when a QR code is displayed on a screen of a tablet terminal in a retail store and the user reads it with a dedicated application of the smartphone, settlement is completed. We are also considering a reading method using a non-contact IC. The settlement data is managed in the block chain, and the charge is charged to the mobile phone fee at a later date and requested.
Since data such as personal information is normally managed by one server, there is a possibility of being rewritten when hacked. On the other hand, the block chain technology that mutually monitors and manages data on multiple computers is hard to be tampered with. Use this technology for settlement services using mobile terminals such as smartphones.
Softbank and Far Easton will conduct experiments on settlement services for travelers in Japan and Taiwan during fiscal 2018. The traveler does not use cash or electronic money, so it sums up with the fee of the cellular phone that always uses the price of the product so that it can be paid.
Softbank and Far Easton make "Mobile Wallet" respectively, and collaborate with them. Details are under consideration, but download applications in advance, for example on mobile phones. When Japanese tourists shop in Taiwan, they are examining ways to grasp the information and prices of the products on the net and add them to the monthly call charges in Japan.
Cash settlement is still mainstream in Japan, but electronic payment such as Alipay is popular in China. Softbank believes that this trend will spread to Japan in the future.
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