Telecom equipment maker Ericsson said it will form a 50-50 joint venture with mobile operators to sell network Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
Ericsson will hold 50 percent stake in the JV. The balance 50 percent stake will be held by telecom operators such as America Movil, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Reliance Jio, Singtel, Telefonica, Telstra, T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone. Ericsson is inviting more telecom operators to join the venture.
Network APIs are the way to easily access, use and pay for network capabilities. The joint venture will drive implementation and access to common APIs from multiple telecom service providers to a broader ecosystem of developer platforms.
Mobile networks have advanced and intelligent capabilities, which have historically been inaccessible to developers. Developers are not able to integrate the different capabilities of hundreds of individual telecom operators. The company will combine network APIs globally. Since these new applications will work anywhere and on any network, it will be easier and quicker for developers to innovate.
Easy access to advanced network capabilities will open up business opportunities to developers to create new use cases across many sectors. These could include anti-fraud verification for financial transactions and the ability to check device status so streaming providers can dynamically adjust video quality.
“Telcos need to develop APIs that allow a consistency of customer experience for network services that mirror the consistency experienced when buying public cloud services in multiple locations,” said Gary Barton, Research Director for Enterprise Technology and Services at GlobalData.
The new company will provide network APIs to a broad ecosystem of developer platforms, including hyperscalers (HCPs), Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) providers, System Integrators (SIs) and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs).
Borje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson, said: “A platform built on Ericsson’s technical capabilities and with a comprehensive ecosystem, that provides millions of developers with a single connection, will enable the telecom industry to invest deeper into the network API opportunity, driving growth and innovation for everyone.”
Cloud communication platforms Vonage, bought by Ericsson in 2022, and Google Cloud will also join the initiative.
In 2023, Ericsson partnered with Deutsche Telekom to offer API solutions for operators, allowing these to broaden their revenue base, using Vonage, Reuters news report said.
The Swedish group bought Vonage for $6.2 billion to offer operators a global platform for APIs. Ericsson has however since then made two significant writedowns on the acquisition due to sluggish market growth.