The US’ Dish Network signed up for the platform when it was announced in September
BT Group and Nokia say they have signed an MoU to develop monetisation opportunities using the vendor’s Network as Code platform. The platform has a developer portal and will provide tools such as software development kits and APIs, used in conjunction with BT’s cloud-native network.
DISH Network was Nokia’s launch operator customer for the platform in September. The operator and Nokia signed an MoU agreeing to collaborate with a view to the vendor launching the platform commercially in December.
Marc Rouanne, DISH Wireless’ EVP, Global Partnerships, said at the time of that announcement, “This partnership is putting the telco industry one step closer to realizing Industry 4.0. Developers and CSPs can leverage the combination of Nokia’s Network as a Code platform with the DISH 5G Open RAN cloud-based network to create and monetize solutions for new use cases across both consumer and enterprise markets, opening the door for further enterprise innovation.”
How will BT use it?
It’s worth noting that the press statement regarding BT is in the future tense regarding what the platform will enable the operator to do and there is very little detail about how BT will use it.
Reza Rahnama, Managing Director, Mobile Networks at BT Group, didn’t tell us much we didn’t know: “5G-era networks are fundamentally software-based and rich in capabilities – such as improving network quality on demand – that can really make a difference to enterprises and consumers in ways that were not possible years ago.”
He added that BT is excited to be working with Nokia and the new platform to “help us better tap into those capabilities that we have been aggressively building into our 5G network”.
Not sure what the “aggressively” adds here but this serves as a good example of why journalists hate interviews or responses to questions via email – we normally receive carefully crafted text that hits all the internal marketing message buttons with minimal detail of any interest to the outside world.
BT and the APIs
Shkumbin Hamiti, Head of Network Monetization Platform, Cloud and Network Services, at Nokia, was not much more informative: “Through its strong API Developer portal work, BT Group has been an important driver of helping the industry understand the multiple benefits of opening telecom networks to application developers. This agreement will enhance our joint work with developers and create new opportunities for extracting value from BT Group’s network assets.”
BT was not a founding member of the GSMA’s operator-driven Open Gateway initiative, but signed up later. Nokia is also participating.
Ericsson at it too
Nokia is not the only API monetisation platform in town. In September Deutsche Telekom announced it will charge developers and business customers for the use of APIs on its mobile network in Germany. The API portal will run on the Vonage platform, owned by arch rival Ericsson – and acquired at eye-watering expense. The APIs will allow the third parties to build apps and services, using information and functions from DT’s network.