From Fragmentation to Growth
The telecom industry is in the midst of a digital transformation, with APIs emerging as critical enablers of new services and partnerships. Global operators are under pressure to expose network capabilities (5G slicing, billing, subscriber data, etc.) quickly and securely via APIs.
In 2024, a consortium of 20+ leading carriers from North America, Europe, and Asia formed a venture to offer standardized network APIs worldwide (Global telecom leaders join forces to redefine the industry with network APIs | MarketScreener) – underscoring both the immense opportunity and the complexity at hand.
Telecom was among the first sectors to embrace APIs as a driver of internal efficiency and new revenue streams (API Security for the Telecoms Industry). Today, that early promise has evolved into a mandate: to survive and thrive, telcos must manage an explosion of APIs spanning legacy OSS/BSS systems, new 5G services, and open partner ecosystems.
This context sets the stage: fintech-driven innovation (about 70% of the focus) is pushing banks forward, while legacy institutions (the other 30%) must adapt or risk being left behind in an API-led ecosystem.
“This is a critical first step in our innovation journey to fully harness the power of our networks at scale... By delivering a common and simple set of network APIs for developers globally, we can unleash this network value... opening up the possibility of a new wave of digital services.”
Christel Heydemann, CEO of Orange
Fragmented Tools and Siloed APIs – The Status Quo and Its Drawbacks
Despite the push for modernization, many telecoms remain bogged down by fragmented tooling and siloed systems. Operations/Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS), the backbone of telco services, often operate in isolated silos across different lines of business – a fact reflected by the 400+ vendors in the OSS/BSS market, illustrating how fragmented the ecosystem is.
Teams frequently use a patchwork of API gateways, integration platforms, and custom scripts. The result is tool sprawl: one department might use Mulesoft or Apigee, another built a custom API service, each with different standards. Governance becomes ad hoc or inconsistent, as there’s no single source of truth for how APIs should be designed, secured, and catalogued.
Without unified standards, each team may version, document, and secure APIs differently. For developers (both internal and partner developers), this inconsistency translates to a higher cognitive load – they must learn differing API styles, security tokens, and processes for each scenario. Compliance adds another layer of challenge. The “Media, Telecoms and Broadcasting” sector ranks among those with the highest number of GDPR fines to date (Numbers and Figures | GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report 2023/2024), showing how critical consistent data governance is for telcos.
Outcomes and Business Implications
of telecom companies report declining average revenue per user (ARPU)
Telecom industry faces 12% annual churn rate on average
Telecom companies spend 24% of revenue on infrastructure maintenance
of telecom services experience outages at least once quarterly
Telecom customer service satisfaction scores are 29% below cross-industry average
of telecom infrastructure is considered technologically obsolete
Visibility into Your API Ecosystem is profitable
Discover, manage, and analyze all your APIs in one central location.
.avif)
A 4 step guide on how to get started with { api module for usecase }
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat.
Step 1: heading
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat.
Step 1: heading
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat.
Step 1: heading
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat.
Step 4: heading
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat.
.avif)
Telcos risk platform paralysis and partner friction without a unified API governance foundation.
Standardize APIs to Simplify Delivery and Build Trust
Unifying API governance helps telcos reduce development time from months to weeks. Internal and partner APIs follow the same rules, which boosts integration speed, reliability, and trust—critical for OSS/BSS transformation and new service rollout.
Empower Ecosystems with a Platform Operating Model
With discoverable, self-service APIs and a unified portal, telcos become true digital platforms. Developers onboard faster, partners co-create easier, and new revenue models—like marketplaces or NaaS—emerge with less friction and higher compliance.
Consolidate Tooling to Accelerate and Secure Change
Platforms like APIwiz unify design, audit, testing, and rollout into one control plane. This eliminates silos, speeds up releases, and ensures built-in compliance—giving telecoms the agility of a tech company with the governance of a carrier.
What’s new
Stay Updated with the Latest Trends, Features, and Expert Insights
