APIs – an imbalance in the telco industry

To keep pace with technological changes and remain competitive, telecoms implement Network APIs that increase their agility and efficiency and enable immediate expansion of coverage and service organization on their partner networks. The challenge is that, so far, it has been the largest players that have been able to develop and present out Network APIs, leaving many of the small but critical players locked out of the API ecosystem. 

This is for a simple reason, larger players have the resources to build web APIs, and smaller operators have to struggle with manual processes, resulting in unsatisfactory performance and, consequently, pure customer experiences.

This is not a healthy situation for the industry, which slows down industry innovation. The use of APIs in telecoms directly impacts the speed a service provider can deliver for customers. It is essential for service providers to offer comprehensive network solutions to their customers to maintain speed and agility within the market. Therefore, it has to change if we want to keep the market efficient. Large carriers need to work with big as well as with smaller telecom players to enable better agility and coverage and speed, eventually.

A Friction-Free Future should be affordable for all. The MEF initiative enables telecommunications companies of all sizes to work with MEF members who have accumulated relevant experience and expertise to offer service providers solutions that accelerate the adoption of LSO Sonata APIs to streamline their services lifecycle. Nexera case is a perfect example of how an open API can facilitate the business.

If you are interested in this topic and would like to deepen your knowledge, also read the latest article in Telecom Reseller “Correcting the API Imbalance in Telecoms: Network API Can’t Just Be for Big Players“.