Network APIs: The platform for next wave of innovations  

The market reality 

Mobile networks are integral to society. Yet communications service providers (CSPs) face enduring challenges in unlocking the full potential of their infrastructure.  

Despite rapid data growth and geographic expansion, traditional pricing models no longer align with the evolving needs of the industry. To remain competitive, CSPs need innovative ways to monetize their networks and offer differentiated services.  

This calls for new business models that allow for a more dynamic use of network resources, enabling developers to create enhanced applications that leverage advanced network capabilities by decoupling existing stacks. 

The business opportunity 

The next wave of digitalization offers a significant business opportunity by enabling developers and enterprises to access the advanced capabilities of mobile networks through application programming interfaces (APIs). By making high-performing, programmable networks accessible, developers can create applications that enable CSPs to differentiate their offerings, evolve their business models, and generate new revenue streams.  

This shift toward API-driven services empowers developers to dynamically request network resources such as throughput, latency, quality of service (QoS), location, and device and service information which are critical for building innovative high-value applications. 

The market potential for network APIs is immense. As telecom providers expose their network capabilities through APIs, developers will be able to create better applications tailored to specific consumer and industry needs. This will lead to a surge in demand for network services. Research from Omdia predicts that global telecom network API revenue will surge from $161 millon in 2023 to $8.7 billion by 2029. 

For this opportunity to be fully realized, an aggregator platform is essential to ensure global availability and scalability. Integrating network capabilities from individual CSPs has traditionally been a challenge, and a global platform will make network features accessible across various regions and networks. By providing developers the access to on-demand network resources, a global aggregator platform will make it easier for developers to innovate and deliver value-added services to enterprises, regardless of their location or the network they use. 

This new business model creates a win-win-win situation for CSPs, developers, and enterprises. By exposing advanced network capabilities via APIs, CSPs will open new avenues for monetization that will boost the return on their infrastructure investments. Meanwhile, developers gain the flexibility to create applications without needing a deep understanding of 5G networks, driving innovation and accelerating the pace at which new services are brought to market. As the telecom industry embraces this new era of programmability and network differentiation, the opportunity for growth and prosperity is vast, benefiting both industries and society. 

Accelerate the power of network APIs across industries 

As mobile networks become more programmable and open, a massive opportunity is emerging—not just for telecom providers, but for the entire digital ecosystem.  

Network APIs are changing the game in designing real best of quality end-to-end solutions, giving developers and enterprises real-time access to powerful network functions like adaptation of quality of service (QoS), verifying and using location, and device intelligence. But, to truly make these capabilities usable and valuable at scale, domain experts play a critical role in igniting industry innovation—leveraging underlying network capabilities as powerful sources of data and value to drive better use cases and solutions.  

On the other side, CSPs have invested heavily in their infrastructure which can now be made accessible via secured and standardized APIs. With deep experience in working across both IT and NT domains, domain experts can help CSPs standardize and expose network APIs, while also stitching them into end-to-end business solutions across different industries. 

What really drives impact is when these APIs are not just exposed, but also meaningfully integrated into real-world use cases and extend or even simplify daily operations. Take financial services, for example. Fraud prevention APIs that tap into network intelligence can be embedded into banking systems to stop fraud in real time by verifying the device or even the subscriber by using the intelligence from CSPs. It is a way to turn network data into real business value, without requiring banks to become telecom experts. 

In other sectors, like manufacturing, healthcare, or media, network APIs can improve automation, enhance capabilities in remote monitoring, and provide even better immersive experiences by providing adaptable frameworks to change latency and reliability exactly when and where it is needed. 

What’s next: Key takeaways for CSPs to tap the potential of network APIs

1. Standardize and scale API exposure. Standardize and securely expose network APIs across regions to create a consistent developer experience and accelerate adoption. 
2. Invest in aggregator platforms. Establish a global aggregator platform to make network capabilities and data accessible, scalable, and usable across different networks. 
3. Monetize programmability, not just infrastructure. Unlock new revenue streams from programmable services, recurring business models, and value-added API integrations. 
4. Fuel developer innovation with telecom intelligence. Provide developers with access to on-demand network features (e.g., QoS, latency, location, device info) to drive the creation of high-value, next-gen applications. 
5. Empower industry use cases in partnership with domain leaders. Collaborate with domain experts to leverage underlying network capabilities and data to create high-impact industry use cases and solutions. 

Take the leap in network APIs with Capgemini and Ericsson 

Ultimately, domain experts serve as the bridge between telecom capabilities and industry-specific innovation. By packaging network APIs into practical solutions, they help CSPs to monetize their networks while enabling enterprises or even full industries to move faster, reduce risk, and deliver better services. This new layer of programmability is not just a technical upgrade, but the very foundation of the next wave of mobile innovation. 

Ready to unlock the full potential of network APIs?  

Thanks to its deep telecom expertise and its leadership in all the global industries (telecom, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, media, retail, and more), Capgemini supports both CSPs and enterprises design innovative use cases delivering value in the industry-specific context and deploysthem with end-to-end integration, and ecosystem enablement.  

Learn how we can help you accelerate innovation and monetization. 

TelcoInsights is a series of posts about the latest trends and opportunities in the telecommunications industry – powered by a community of global industry experts and thought leaders