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Nokia and BT Group are extending their long-term partnership, signing a Memorandum of Understanding to develop new 5G monetisation opportunities by integrating Nokia’s Network as Code platform and BT Group’s cloud-native network
Nokia’s Network as a Code platform was launched in September this year, aiming to help operators monetise their 5G network assets by providing application developers with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and Software Development Kits (SDK). In short, this gives developers greater access to network data and functionality, allowing them to build new use cases for end users.
“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,” said Reza Rahnama, Managing Director of Mobile Networks at BT Group.
“We are excited to work with Nokia and its new platform to help us better tap into those capabilities that we have been aggressively building into our 5G network,” he continued.
“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,” said Shkumbin Hamiti, Head of Network Monetization Platform, Cloud and Network Services, at Nokia.
Nokia has also recently signed a similar agreement with Dish in the USA to collaborate on an ecosystem project that will allow enable enterprises to develop applications using advanced mobile and 5G network capabilities using Nokia’s Network as a Code program.
Giving developers increased access to network functions via open APIs has become a hot topic in the telecoms sector in recent years. At Mobile World Congress this year, for example, arguably the biggest story was the launch of the GSMA’s Open Gateway project, a partnership between 21 mobile operators that will see them expose their 5G networks to developers through open APIs.
However, while the interest in this approach continues to increase, for some the process has not been without growing pains. Ericsson, for example, bet big on network APIs with the $6.2 billion acquisition of API specialist Vonage last summer, only to record impairment charges of roughly $3 billion related to the move in Q3 2023.
Ericsson attributed the impairment to a significant drop in the market capitalization of Vonage’s publicly traded peers, increased interest rates and overall slowdown in Vonage’s core markets.
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