Malaysia’s CelcomDigi, France’s Bouygues and Free join Aduna, India’s Jio Platforms announces AI platform, while global alliance seeks more, diverse members
Malaysia’s CelcomDigi, France’s Free (part of the Iliad Group) and Bouygues Telecom have become operator partners in Aduna, bringing the total (it’s hard to keep up) to 16. The API initiative was announced last September and the joint venture in January. Ericsson holds a 50% stake, the operators the rest.
Aduna’s mission is to combine and sell network APIs globally, “enabling new applications to work anywhere, and on any network, paving the way for developers to innovate much more quickly and easily”.
The third of France’s big three operators, Orange, was a founder member of Aduna. Earlier this week it announced a new API business unit, Orange LiveNet.
French show of force
Chrystel Abadie Truchet, Head of Strategy, Communication and Development at Bouygues Telecom, stated, “French major network operators joining forces with Aduna to launch network APIs is a major step in unlocking new digital innovation opportunities across industries in France and beyond. Bouygues Telecom is proud to be part of this project with other market leaders such as Free and Orange, and we believe this strategic partnership holds immense potential for driving digital transformation in France and abroad.”
Rui Frazao, CTO at Free – iliad Group, adds, “The partnership with Aduna is in line with iliad Group’s strategy to democratize and accelerate the adoption of 5G SA and network APIs by making them accessible to developers and service providers worldwide.”
And Otilia Anton, Director, Orange LiveNet, explains, “Network APIs pave the way to programmable networks for personalized and secure customer experiences leveraging connectivity data. Aduna will play an important role in simplifying global access to CAMARA APIs. We are proud of this first commercial exposure of Orange APIs on Aduna contributing to enforcing network APIs’ reach and value proposition for identity and antifraud solutions.”
Global reach
CelcomDigi’s Deputy CEO, Albern Murty comments, “We are committed to enabling a 5G-AI-powered digital ecosystem that fuels innovation and enhances digital experiences. Our partnership with Aduna amplifies this commitment by providing developers and enterprises with direct access to advanced network capabilities.
“By bridging global connectivity with Malaysia’s digital landscape, we are setting the stage for a new era of services innovation, making it easier for businesses to build, scale, and deploy new digital solutions that benefit customers nationwide.”
Jio Platforms turns to AI
India’s Jio Platforms used MWC as its platform to announce it is joining forces with Cisco, Nokia and AMD to develop an Open Telecom AI Platform. The intention is to “redefine telecom operations with cutting-edge AI integration”. Jio Platforms is
Jio Platforms was founded in 2019, has headquarters in Mumbai and is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, an international conglomerate. Jio Platforms is a holding company for India’s largest mobile network operator, Jio, and other digital businesses belonging to Reliance.
Since April 2020, Reliance Industries has a 67% holding in Jio Platforms and has raised about $17 billion from selling stakes in the Jio Platform. Investors include Meta, Google, private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds.
Central intelligence layer
Jio Platforms says that its new partnership “will create a new central intelligence layer for telecom and digital services. This multi-domain intelligence framework will integrate AI and automation into every layer of network operations.”
Further, “The AI platform will be LLM agnostic and utilize open APIs to optimize its functionality and capabilities. By harnessing agentic AI and leveraging both Large Language Models (LLMs), domain-specific Small Language Models (SLMs), and non-GenAI machine learning techniques, the Telecom AI Platform will enable end-to-end intelligence for network management and operations.”
Mathew Oommen, group CEO at Reliance Jio, commented, “By harnessing agentic AI across all telco layers, we are building a multimodal, multidomain orchestrated workflow platform that redefines efficiency, intelligence and security for the telecom industry.
“In collaboration with AMD, Cisco and Nokia, Jio is advancing the Open Telecom AI Platform to transform networks into self-optimising, customer-aware ecosystems. This initiative goes beyond automation – it’s about enabling AI-driven, autonomous networks that adapt in real time, enhance user experiences, and create new service and revenue opportunities across the digital ecosystem.”
Compare and contrast
Meanwhile, founders of the Global Telco AI Alliance, have been meeting in Barcelona. The Alliance was announced at MWC last year to develop a telco-specific LLM. Meat was added to the bones with the announcement of a JV at DTW last June.
Representatives from SK Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, e&, Singtel and Softbank used this year’s MWC to appeal for participation from Big Tech’s AI efforts and policymakers, as well as more operator members, unveiling a new logo and holding a Global Telco AI Roundtable.
