Under-utilized network APIs limit revenue potential

Most of the world’s communication service providers (CSPs) are missing out on the potential financial benefits offered by network application program interfaces (APIs), a senior manager with Oracle Communications claims.

 

John Muhlner, director of SDP product marketing at Oracle, told Telecom Asia CSPs are largely failing to use network assets to tap the revenues being generated by new mobile services and applications, and are unable to address new business sectors in the process.

 

The telco service exposure addressable market will be worth $115 billion per year by 2015, estimates Alan Quayle, Oracle’s business and service development chief. However, this figure is only a third of the forecast made in 2005 because of sluggish carrier uptake.

 

Muhlner says, however, it’s not too late for service providers to jump on the API exposure bandwagon.

 

“Network APIs deliver value not only to long-tail developers, but also to the short- and mid-tail content partners, MVNOs, enterprises and even internal developers,” he notes, adding that service providers that use their network assets fully can offer unique capabilities that ease current frictions in using apps. Leveraging existing app developer programs or by creating new partner programs, telcos can provide API support for a multitude of services including subscriber location, charging, messaging, call control, quality of service, identity management and profile exposure, he points out.

 

Many of these services are highly differentiated as over-the-top providers aren’t capable of offering them, Muhlner says. “For example, if a user or an enterprise wants to access the location of a family member or an employee as part of an application they are using, the service provider has the ability to provide this information.”

 

In addition, existing billing systems can be used to derive revenue from in-app payments, an approach that benefits CSPs and content partners alike. “It extends out for physical goods,” Muhlner says, noting that there is a “substantial non-digital market” that CSPs can also address.

 

Other applications for APIs include automatic population of regular profile information – data that users often have to fill in each time they register for a new service -- privacy management, machine-to-machine communications, guaranteed quality of service for mobile video delivery, mobile messaging campaigns and targeted advertising.