Earlier this week arch rival Nokia launched what it says is the first implementation of the GSMA Operator Platform
Telstra says it is working with the network API platform Vonage which is owned by Ericsson. The vendor says that Telstra will add its network APIs to the Vonage platform to spur growth in the operator’s enterprise sector. The APIs will expose Telstra’s network services and capabilities to businesses and developers for them to create applications for their specific needs.
Vonage and Telstra are to invest in and work on improving existing APIs. They include Silent Authentication which is a new method of providing secure authentication without users needing to input passwords or verification information.
Means of monetisation
Telstra’s Group Executive for Product and Technology, Kim Krogh Andersen (pictured above left), explained the vision was for the operator to monetise network APIs, “in the same way hyperscalers monetise compute on their cloud as a platform”.
Niklas Heuveldop, Vonage’s CEO and Head of Ericsson Business Area Global Communications Platform is seated in the middle, and Shailin Sehgal, Group Executive, Global Network and Technology, Telstra, in the right of the picture above.
More customers and competition
AT&T, AWS, Deutsche Telekom and Verizon are already working with Vonage platform on ways to develop and monetise network APIs but Ericsson’s Vonage is not the only game in town.
Earlier this week Nokia announced its Network Exposure Platform which it says is the first implementation of the GSMA Operator Platform. Nokia NEP complements and can be integrated with Nokia’s Network as Code platform with developer portal. BT and Nokia signed an MoU to explore monetisation opportunities for 5G with Network as a Code with developer portal at the end of last year. DISH Network was Nokia’s launch operator for the platform last September.