Telefónica hits R&D accelerator with TU expansion

Telefónica has unveiled a significant expansion of its TU digital innovation brand, including the launch of additional AI, cryptocurrency, and quantum computing services.

Speaking during the Group’s Innovation Day 2024 event at its headquarters in Madrid, Chema Alonso, the operator’s Chief Digital Officer, said that TU will now be serving as the main brand for innovation services created by Telefónica Innovación Digital — the Group’s technology development unit created in December 2023 and which Alonso leads.

The CDO said the operator is looking to accelerate time-to-market for more innovative services through TU, in an approach similar to the one taken with Tuenti — a social network-turned-mobile virtual network operator that Telefónica acquired in 2010. While the MVNO platform shut down Spanish operations in 2022, it remains active in certain Latin American countries.

“ What we are looking for is to do the most disruptive thing we [can] in innovation in products and services. Not in proof-of-concepts, but in products and services. The most disruptive ones — bringing them out with the spirit… that Tuenti had, and for us, it is very important to maintain that. ”

Alonso (translated).

The Group created Telefónica Innovación Digital through the merger of Telefónica Digital España, which was responsible for managing “developer telco services” and other innovation- and venturing-oriented business units, and Telefónica I+D, the Group’s previous R&D-focused arm. The merged entity houses the Group’s data management, digital services, innovation, and platform and products functions, now also underpinned by the GSMA’s Open Gateway application programming interface (API) initiative.

Crypto buddy Bit2Me tapped for wallet app

Alonso’s main service announcement was the launch of TU Wallet, a new digital cryptocurrency platform that enables users to “buy, sell, ship, and pay” with various cryptocurrencies.

The service is powered by a cryptocurrency API from exchange operator Bit2Me, one of the more significant investments in the portfolio of Telefónica venturing unit Wayra. This enables users to trade certain ‘coins’ with the “highest market capitalisation” via TU Wallet — this includes support for Bitcoin, Cardano, Ethereum, Solana, and USD Coin.

The app is compatible with Bit2Me Card, a service enabling users to make cryptocurrency payments “in any establishment or ecommerce” platform through a partnership between Bit2Me and MasterCard.

Alonso said the partnership was crucial from the start of TU Wallet’s development, as it enabled Telefónica to “[make] life as simple as possible” for users, with support only for cryptocurrencies with “higher capitalisation and less fluctuation” minimising risk.

TU Wallet is available on Android and iOS devices for “any customer with a Spanish cell phone number”, regardless of operator. Bit2Me claims reach beyond Spain, too, with “over 392 million potential customers across more than twelve countries” currently able to use the app.

Taking experiments beyond the lab

Alonso flagged several other products that have been launched at a trial stage to further expand TU’s portfolio.

The first is TU Quantum Drop, a cybersecurity solution that allows users to encrypt, decrypt, and store files in the cloud, utilising post-quantum cryptography methods to provide increased security.

The service holds similarities to the TU Quantum Encryption service that Telefónica launched earlier in October 2024, though focuses on the encryption of files rather than secure transmission of data across networks.

Alonso said the service is at the trial stage as quantum computers are not yet widely available, and is being prepared for “any quantum computer that could appear in the future, which is beginning to be one of the requirements that many organisations are solving”.

The second service is VerifAI Pro, a content detection tool to check whether users have created or modified images or videos using generative AI (GenAI).

Alonso gave two potential use-cases for VerifAI Pro: in video conferencing, to prevent “cybercriminals or fraudsters” from accessing private virtual meetings; and in digital forensic analysis, to determine if someone created documents or images using GenAI.

Additionally, Telefónica has relaunched TU Gallery, a digital storefront for non-fungible tokens (NFT), alongside the release of “new [NFT] collections” that are available for purchase.