Findings from the consultation on blockchain technology in the network sectors

Jochen Homann: "Blockchains offer great potential but need to be developed further. The Bundesnetzagentur is ready to engage in a further, more in-depth exchange."

Year of issue 2020
Date of issue 2020.06.30

The Bundesnetzagentur today published the findings from its consultation on blockchain technology in the telecommunications, postal, energy and rail network sectors.

"Despite significant progress in recent years, blockchain technology is still in quite an early phase of development," said Jochen Homann, Bundesnetzagentur President. "Generally speaking, in the network sectors the technology is at the stage where pilot projects are being run and concepts for use are being explored, although a few market-ready applications are already in use."

Potential and challenges of blockchain technology

Blockchain technology most importantly enables transactions between different parties to be made and stored directly, transparently and securely.

The consultation made it clear that innovative applications and business models can be developed on the basis of blockchain technology in all the network sectors.

At the same time, there are various challenges that still need to be overcome when implementing concrete blockchain projects. These include above all complying with data protection requirements, increasing transaction speed and creating interoperability both between individual blockchains and between blockchains and existing applications.

Key findings in the network sectors

Of all the network sectors, the energy sector is the one where blockchain technology is currently considered to be most relevant, with potential for blockchain applications seen in areas such as electricity trading, green and regional electricity certification and system services.

In the telecommunications sector, blockchain technology is being trialled to develop secure digital identities, improve various payment and billing processes between telecommunications companies (for instance for roaming services) and enable transparent and efficient transactions in the Internet of Things.

There are also several potential areas of application for blockchain technology in the postal and rail sectors, although at present the technology is seen as less relevant in these two sectors than in the energy and telecommunications sectors.

Bundesnetzagentur consultation

The consultation was held from mid-November 2019 to mid-January 2020. The aim of the consultation was to find out more about the status quo of the technology, concrete projects and possible regulatory challenges in the network sectors from the market players' perspective. The consultation followed publication of a discussion paper drawn up by the Bundesnetzagentur on blockchain technology.

The findings from the consultation and the market players' responses have been published (in German) on the Bundesnetzagentur's website at www.bundesnetzagentur.de/publikationen-digitalisierung.

The Bundesnetzagentur is also ready to engage in a further, more in-depth exchange with market players on particular aspects of blockchain technology in the network sectors. Information about this is included in the findings paper.

Press release (pdf / 306 KB)

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