BARCELONA, Spain – Mobile operators made a big push around standardized APIs to squeeze revenue from their increasingly smart 5G network deployments at this year’s MWC Barcelona 2023 event. However, they will need to move confidently in that direction to gain that financial advantage.

This network API push was most highlighted by industry trade group GSMA releasing the Open Gateway initiative at its halo event. That initiative is targeted at standardizing network APIs that the telecom industry can offer to the developer and application community to simplify revenue-generating interactions.

Open Gateway uses common, northbound service APIs to expose a mobile operators’ network capabilities “within a consistent, interoperable and federated framework.” It’s launching with eight APIs, including support for SIM swap, quality on demand, device status, number verification, edge site selection and routing, two-factor authentication, and carrier billing.

The work also builds on the open source Camara project GSMA launched last year with the Linux Foundation.

“GSMA Open Gateway will enable single points of access to ultra-broadband networks and provide a catalyst for immersive technologies and Web3 – giving them the ability to fulfill their potential and reach critical mass,” José María Álvarez-Pallete López, GSMA Board Chairman, and Chairman and CEO of Telefónica, explained in a press release. “Telcos have come a long way in developing a global platform to connect everyone and everything. And now, by federating open network APIs and applying the roaming concept of interoperability, mobile operators and cloud services will be truly integrated to enable a new world of opportunity. Collaboration amongst telecom operators and cloud providers is crucial in this new digital ecosystem.”

The Open Gateway initiative launched with support from more than 20 companies, including global operator heavyweights AT&T, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile Deutsche Telekom, Verizon, and Vodafone. It also included positive commentary from most of the cloud ecosystem's largest players, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft.

Many of those operators and vendors touted programs that build on the Open Gateway move.

Telefónica, for instance, showed an early adopter program with AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Vonage. This is targeted at developing new use cases based on new network and telecom services using Microsoft’s Azure Programmable Connectivity, Vonage’s Communications Platform, and in the AWS and Google Cloud marketplaces.

Verizon took a slightly different approach, working directly with AWS on an “Edge Discovery and Quality of Service” API proof of concept that allows customers to combine dynamic QoS from Verizon with AWS edge services. Verizon currently runs its mobile edge compute (MEC) service on AWS’ Wavelength platform.

Industry observers noted the most recent network advances have opened the door for operators to glean new revenue streams.

“As you move into 5G standalone, now you have the opportunity to have APIs and interfaces and business models for things like quality of service, lower latency network slicing, and guaranteed bandwidth, and we think that's where the carriers need to go,” Dan Hays, partner at consulting firm PwC, said in an interview at the MWC Barcelona 2023 event.

However, Hays said that while the “technical hooks” are becoming available, “it requires the business model innovation to actually get it done. And to be honest, we’re not seeing enough motion there to make that happen.”

As an example, Hays cited an Australian telecom operator that launched a low-latency service, which allowed them to provide a premium benefit for gamers on its network. The operator was offering the service as a $10 per-month add-on to their customers.

Hays countered to the operator that while the premium offering was a step in the right direction, they were probably under-charging for the service.

“I said, if you took my 13-year-old, who is an avid gamer, and you told him if you pay me $1 and for the next hour you can [have a competitive advantage], oh, you better bet that kid would be spending every dollar,” Hays recounted. “I said, so the $10 a month, you're probably underselling this opportunity.”

Hays added that operators are starting to poke around the edges of these opportunities, but need to remain focused on those efforts in order to maximize the financial return on their 5G investments.

“[The operators] need to be going to the gaming companies, going to the VR providers, going to the other application providers, and saying, here [are] the APIs, and by the way, here's how billing is going to work, here's how all of the verification and identity is going to work across it, because you [have] to connect those pieces,” Hays said. “The opportunity is really to connect the dots.”