Communications service providers (CSPs) are always at the forefront of the technology that delivers telecommunications networks and services to the public, and empowering businesses and communities.
An important emerging trend is the momentum toward opening up networks to be accessed directly by third-party application developers.
In this article we will explore this exciting opportunity, and why the timing now is right for telecom APIs to play a critical role in monetizing CSP networks.
Openness: a new era in networking
Today, as the world moves towards a hyper-connected digital age, networks have the opportunity to provide a more profound contribution to consumer and business experiences. The rollout of 5G has tremendously increased expectations of networks and we are at a critical point where accessibility into these networks by external 3rd parties will become a key success factor.
A recent survey by Analysys Mason indicated that 73% of CSPs surveyed described network API exposure as a top-five priority in their business plans. Previous attempts to open capabilities within CSP networks have been aimed at developers who are network industry experts themselves. Due to the complex and proprietary nature of telecom networks, there is a relatively limited audience of network experts to use these network capabilities.
However, the present Communications Platform as a Service, or CPaaS, movement has proven that when valuable network capabilities are made available to 3rd party developers, they can put them to very effective use. In a survey of application developers, Analysys Mason identified that 42% already use APIs from CPaaS providers and 73% indicated that they would be interested in using more capabilities from telecom networks if they can be easily accessed.
The telecom network industry is ready to build upon the CPaaS movement toward further empowering application developers with more network capabilities. Consider the following:
- The monetary angle: CSPs need ROI on their 5G investments, hence they are motivated to make the changes on their end. As indicated by Analysys Mason, CSPs invested USD103 billion in building 5G networks in 2022 and are expected to spend a further USD129 billion in 2023. By opening these networks to external 3rd party application developers, CSPs can see a positive return on these investments.
- The opportunity angle: 5G-era networks are rich in capability that can offer some things that can really make a difference to end-user enterprises and consumers; and in ways that were not possible years ago. Capabilities such as improving network quality on demand can be very beneficial. As applications are built within distributed cloudified environments across various network segments, developers are hard-pressed to control the performance of their applications. Things don’t run in self-controlled, single data centers anymore. Insights that the network can provide can enable developers to make their application performance more be more predictable and reliable.
- The technical angle: 5G-era networks are fundamentally software-based - a step change from how networks were designed and built years ago – which means they are programmable by nature. We are no longer trying to open up hardware-centric networks that were never designed to be open to programmability.
Industry momentum
We are now seeing unprecedented progress in the telecom network industry toward a new level of openness. Initiatives such as the Linux Foundation CAMARA program and the GSMA Open Gateway Initiative are leading the way toward organizing and harmonizing the efforts of CSPs worldwide. These efforts have brought a unified appreciation and approach toward openness that we have not seen before.
Real world examples, the path forward and regional focus
Killer apps have long been sought after as the necessary ingredient to initiate real tangible change. The power and feature-rich nature of our modern 5G-era programmable networks offer many capabilities that can be exposed to enrich applications. This can be confusing and daunting. To move forward, it will be important to prioritize a few significant capabilities with broad-ranging use and then curate specific use-cases to bring them to life.
Present momentum is focused on Quality on Demand, Device Identifier and Device Location capabilities and some industry vertical areas of focus include transportation & logistics, process manufacturing, entertainment/gaming/events and healthcare.
Traditional telecom and IT industry adoption rates will likely apply where there will be a small group of disruptors followed by early adopters before we see full mainstream adoption. The Asia Pacific market will likely follow normal suit to spearhead those disruptions and early adoptions within this context.
Application developers will need help
Historically, capabilities within telecom networks have not been available to external 3rd parties via programmable interfaces and there is a need for some evangelism, education and extended support. In conjunction with the efforts of the industry groups such as CAMARA and the Open Gateway initiative, there is a need to help developers to understand what the networks will be exposing and how to apply these exposed capabilities.
There will be various approaches
As outlined by the GSMA Open Gateway taxonomy, there will be different solutions to approach this opportunity space. Some Network Providers are building their own platforms to connect their own networks directly to the application developer community. This is referred to as the “Direct” model in the Open Gateway taxonomy. The other approach is called the “Aggregator” model where 3rd party platforms will connect multiple Network Provider networks to the application developer community. And there will be methods to cross-connect between and among these various models - sometimes referred to as “federation”.
What will success look like?
The critical success factor of this entire industry movement toward openness will be seen through advances in enterprise and consumer experiences that are enriched with capabilities from today’s 5G-era networks. It is incumbent upon all of us in our telecom industry to get this right. To implement platforms like Nokia’s Network as Code to ease the process for third party developers to have quick success in delivering compelling applications to their enterprise and consumer end-customers.
