By: Amir Mehmood

Monetization is imperative for the telecom sector. Despite telcos investing nearly $1 trillion in network upgrades since 2018, they still need help monetizing 5G effectively. Many analysts have commented on the potential revenue telcos have lost to OTT (over-the-top) services in recent years, and roughly 75 percent of operators have been vocal about their concerns over those missed OTT opportunities. This is why generating revenue from 5G is vital to operators. They’ve invested in costly infrastructure, learning lessons over the past two decades, and are rightly looking for their slice of the action.

There is a market for basic, connectivity-driven 5G monetization. One McKinsey survey found that 14 percent of 18 to 24 year olds would be willing to pay for things like 5G booster packages, and roughly 20 percent of subscribers would happily pay more for “business class” 5G plans. That’s encouraging, but the real value in network application programming interfaces (APIs) lies in creating services and applications that aren’t directly tied to speed or bandwidth.

Insights such as usage patterns or roaming data can open up lucrative opportunities beyond traditional service options that play into modern consumers' real-world needs and expectations. If these network APIs can be developed and made available to enterprises and developers, it would unlock a new generation of 5G-driven applications in which telcos would play a central, driving role. Cloud providers and API aggregators are already looking to disrupt this space. So, the time for telcos to act is now. Otherwise, they risk repeating the frustration they’ve endured over the past two decades.

Thanks to initiatives like the global telco API alliance CAMARA, telcos are re-evaluating how they define and approach network APIs. They’re no longer viewed as just technical components built for functionality. They’re now seen as substantial business assets that can drive innovation and offer distinct competitive advantages.

For instance, telcos could provide travel agencies with roaming data to offer tailored services to frequent travelers or supply banks with secure, timely, customer location and device data to prevent fraud. These scenarios underscore APIs' broad applicability and potential profitability in generating new revenue streams through innovative, cross-industry applications rather than merely making connections faster and more reliable.

The CAMARA network, which facilitates easy access to APIs for operators, includes API projects on everything from device location and connectivity status to carrier billing and network access.

Understanding Network APIs and Monetization

Simply put, network APIs allow telcos to interact with their network and data systems programmatically, ultimately offering this access and capability as a service to external developers. By surfacing some of the vast repositories of data that telcos passively gather from SMS, voice, location, data usage, and user behavior and making that data available through APIs, they can create platforms where third-party developers can build applications that leverage these insights, expanding the utility and reach of their networks.

Much of this capability, however, will hinge on their digital architecture. Legacy platforms and cumbersome business support systems (BSS) may act as a barrier to entry for larger telcos. However, smaller mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) — whether independent or subdivisions of larger operators — should have the flexibility and scalability to pivot to more modern systems.

These modern systems, often cloud-based and cloud-native, should have the agility to allow for the flexible integration of new services and API initiatives. This not only facilitates easier access and broader usage of their APIs, but it also enhances the ability of telcos to manage and monetize API interactions more efficiently. As industry standards evolve, adopting such digital architectures will allow telecom operators to