6GENABLERS-DLT: DLT-based Marketplace for Decentralized Trading of 6G Telco resources

TL;DR

The paper presents 6GENABLERS-DLT, a permissioned, DLT-anchored marketplace for decentralized trading of 6G telco resources. It introduces a two-layer architecture combining a trading/identity layer with an SLA-aware monitoring layer, and demonstrates prototypes including a Hyperledger Fabric-based DLT testbed, smart contracts, intent-based discovery, and proactive SLA monitoring. Key contributions include a modular, TM Forum–aligned architecture, a developer toolkit for smart contracts, and validated KPIs across multi-domain use cases, evidencing scalability, resilience, and trust in decentralized telco exchanges. The work envisions practical adoption by operators, service providers, and infrastructure vendors, highlighting potential gains in resilience, efficiency, and new business models for 6G ecosystems.

Abstract

The 6GENABLERS-DLT project addresses critical challenges in fostering multi-party collaboration within dynamic 6G environments. As operators and service providers increasingly depend on third-party resources to meet their contractual and operational needs, the project introduces an innovative, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-anchored Marketplace designed to streamline decentralized telco resource trading. This 6GENABLERS Marketplace serves as a collaborative platform where operators, resource providers, and service providers can seamlessly discover, advertise, and trade telco assets within a transparent, secure, and efficient permissioned environment. Distinguished from public DLT-Blockchain solutions, the Marketplace's permissioned nature ensures robust governance, privacy, and control, making it particularly suited to enterprise and consortium-based use cases in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. The adoption of a decentralized architecture eliminates reliance on a central operator, thereby mitigating risks associated with single points of failure and enhancing system trustworthiness, resilience, and fault tolerance. The Marketplace encompasses a wide range of resources integral to 6G networks, including virtualized mobile core components, Radio Access Network (RAN) assets, edge and cloud infrastructure, and vertical applications tailored to specific industry needs. This diversity enables stakeholders to dynamically access and scale resources, fostering operational efficiency and innovation across 6G ecosystems. Through the 6GENABLERS-DLT project, the vision of a collaborative, resource-rich 6G environment becomes a reality, laying the foundation for a next-generation telco ecosystem where decentralization empowers stakeholders to meet the demands of an interconnected, flexible, and scalable future.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: Actors in the 6GENABLERS Marketplace.
• Figure 2: 6GENABLERS Marketplace high-level architecture.
• Figure 3: Trading DLT high-level architecture.
• Figure 4: Model creation process using SC Dev Toolkit.
• Figure 5: Software architecture of the Clustering and Classification module.