Japan-based telecom giant NTT DoCoMo is the latest operator to join the Ericsson and Google-developed Aduna telecom API project, which is looking to create a commercial marketplace for operators to monetize their network resources.

The deal opens NTT DoCoMo’s network APIs to the Aduna market, providing application developers with network insights in order to craft consumer and enterprise-facing services. The carrier specifically pointed to “fraud prevention strategies via APIs such as number verification and SIM swap detection.”

“By making NTT DoCoMo's network APIs-developed in alignment with global standards-available through Aduna's global platform, we are confident that this collaboration will help create new value that enhances the safety and comfort of each customer's daily life,” Nobuko Hiraguchi, SVP and GM of the NTT DoCoMo’s Core Network Design Department, noted in a statement. “NTT DoCoMo will continue to advance technical development, including network APIs, to deliver even greater value to society and our customers.”

NTT DoCoMo’s agreement fulfills months of work with Aduna, which began last June.

NTT DoCoMo joins a handful of network operators working with Aduna to offer these revenue-generating APIs, including founding operator partners América Móvil, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Reliance Jio, Singtel, Telefonica, Telstra, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Vodafone.

Those operators partnered with Ericsson and Google to found Aduna in late 2024. That for-profit venture was founded as a way to sell network APIs that can power new digital services running on platforms from hyperscalers, communications platform-as-a-service (PaaS) providers, system integrators (SIs), and independent software vendors (ISVs).

Those APIs are based on the Linux Foundation-housed Camara Project API that was developed by industry trade group GSMA and the Linux Foundation in 2022.

IDC predicts the worldwide telecom and network API market will be generating north of $6 billion in revenues per year by 2028. This includes the market surging at a 57.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from the approximately $700 million in revenues generated in 2023 to more than $6 billion in 2028.

“While the telecom industry has a mixed history of API monetization, its latest focus on novel network APIs is being championed by all leading telecom service providers to include global support from key API aggregators, such as the hyperscale cloud providers and leading [communication platform-as-a-service] entities,” Patrick Filkins, research manager for IoT and telecom network infrastructure at IDC, noted in the report. “Even so, the long-term success of these efforts is expected to largely fall to the broader ecosystem consisting of API aggregators and systems integrators that can generate the value propositions required for market education and adoption to take place.”