- Top operators from around the world are collaborating in a new venture with Ericsson
- So far, efforts to use APIs to monetize 5G have gone pretty much nowhere
- The newly formed company aims to combine network APIs globally, with a vision that new applications will work anywhere and on any network, making it easier and quicker for developers to innovate
Talk about a coup. The wireless industry has been trying to make a business out of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and Ericsson just corralled some of the world’s largest telecom operators to create a new venture designed to make it all happen.
The new company will combine and sell network APIs on a global scale, with the mission being to spur innovation in digital services.
Ericsson didn’t specify a name for the venture, but it will hold 50% of the equity in the entity while the telecom providers will hold 50% in total. The operators include AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the U.S., as well as América Móvil, Bharti Airtel, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Reliance Jio, Singtel, Telefonica, Telstra and Vodafone.
“It’s important to have a core group that is really focused on doing this work,” Oliver Buschmann, VP and head of Strategy at Ericsson, told Fierce Network’s Steve Saunders at Ericsson’s analyst day in Boston today.
The new venture will be “in keeping with” the GSMA’s Open Gateway principles, according to an Ericsson press release.
Ericsson, via Vonage, and Nokia have been trying to make network APIs available to developers, but one of the big missing pieces has been hyperscalers, with their ability to reach developers at scale.
The newly formed company is pledging to provide network APIs to a broad ecosystem of developer platforms, including hyperscalers, Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) providers, system integrators and independent software vendors. It will be based on existing industry-wide CAMARA APIs, the open-source project driven by the GSMA and the Linux Foundation.
Vonage and Google Cloud will partner with the new company, providing access to their ecosystems of millions of developers as well as their partners.
Ericsson acquired the New Jersey-based cloud communications provider Vonage Holdings in 2022 for about $6.2 billon. But last year, it said it would record an impairment charge of $2.92 billion, related to the impairment of goodwill attributed to the Vonage acquisition.
"This is exactly what they needed to do. Vonage has taken the bull by the horns," NeXt Curve analyst Leonard Lee told Fierce.
Darius Singh, a director at STL Partners, said in a LinkedIn post that many have asked what’s different this time with telco APIs versus when the industry tried the “One API” program. “This investment feels different to me,” he said. “This feels more active than a forum or a standards body.”
Ericsson said additional telecom operators are encouraged to join the new company. The transaction, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, is expected to close in early 2025.
Last year, Nokia unveiled its Network as Code platform and developer portal for APIs. Shkumbin Hamiti, head of Network Monetization Platform, Cloud and Network Services at Nokia, told Fierce that it was his hope that more than 30 operators would sign onto Nokia’s Network as Code platform by the end of this year.
As for what the Ericsson venture means for Nokia and its API ambitious, Ericsson’s platform seems to have taken the lead in API aggregation, which spells bad news for Nokia, Singh said, adding that it remains to be seen if Nokia will partner with or compete against this venture.
Fierce Network reached out to Linux Foundation and TM Forum for comment on their respective open API programs but had not received a reply as of press time.
Steve Saunders, Liz Coyne and Dan Jones also contributed to the reporting on this story.
This story has been updated with additional commentary.