(Yicai Global) Jan. 7 -- The Blockchain-Based Service Network whose formation China's State Information Center has spearheaded will officially enter into commercial service in April and will set up about 100 urban nodes to provide developers with low-capital foundational blockchain technology infrastructure, China Electronics News reported.

This blockchain service network is a collaborative effort by SIC, China Mobile Communications Group and China Unionpay, said Tang Sisi, deputy director of the China Smart City Development & Research Center under the country's State Information Center, as she attended a forum in Beijing. The BSN started internal testing in October, with Hangzhou as its first pilot city, Tang stated.

A blockchain service network is a global foundational technology infrastructure that targets industrial corporate and government applications, whose goal is to change the current high cost of the blockchain local area network architecture, she said, adding it greatly reduces the development, deployment, operation and maintenance and supervision costs of blockchain applications by providing developers with a common resource environment.

Current quotes from mainstream cloud service providers for setting up a blockchain local area network are at least CNY100,000 (USD14,369) per year, and through the BSN, chaining an application and putting it into operation only costs between CNY2,000 (USD287.5) to CNY3,000 each year, thus encouraging many small and medium enterprises and individuals, including students, to start businesses and innovate through it.

With the support of China Mobile's 31 provincial branches, its BSN had set up 40 public city nodes across the country at the time of the internal testing. This number is set to reach about 100 when it officially activates. Cloud operators and cloud service providers from Southeast Asia and Europe are also negotiating with the center and planning corresponding local deployments, per a white paper the SIC published in October.

Editor: Ben Armour