Telecommunications giant Telenor has developed a new product that it hopes will help to bring a change in business model for media-focused ICOs.
A Norway-based firm, its innovative approach will piggy-back on its newly-signed partnership with Hubii, a data distribution start-up.
Launching their joint-partnership ICO, they develop an autonomous and decentralised multi-platform marketplace for media content, designed in part to address recurrent hacking issues by exploiting the Blockchain’s inherent immutability.
A long-term aim is to displace third-party intermediaries who, traditionally taking significant commissions, will be eliminated altogether through the use of smart contract-based content partnerships.
Telenor’s ICO Interest
Ketil Hoigaard is Telenor’s Business Development Head at WowBox. He said that the news app can certainly benefit from the lessons learned from Hubii Network’s previous ICO.
Hoigaard is keeping a close eye on the ICO to get insights for WowBox. He stated that the project can demonstrate to the larger company the general benefits of the Blockchain model . He also went on to say that, whilst still too early to comment, he is hoping for the Hubii ICO to serve as a successful model for future expansion.
Mark Briscombe, head of Business Modelling head at Telenor, and serving on the Hubii Network’s advisory board which includes the likes of John Paton, ex CEO of Digital First Media and David Schlesinger, a former Reuters editor-in-chief, has pointed out that, whilst the venture is a new experience for all of them, he is confident about the new opportunities that the initiative promises to deliver.
Briscombe has already indicated that he is likely to put a team in place to help WowBox understand the general advantages of Blockchain-based technologies.
The partnership between the start-up and the experienced may seem unusual. But Telenor has been playing a role of a media outlet by serving up loocal news content from Hubii Network’s 560 third-party content creators to reach 50 million users every month.
