Are APIs the crucial new currency for accelerating digital innovation in telecoms?

Next generation APIs enabled through 5G

5G has emerged as a key catalyst for digital transformation. Even though 5G has been deployed since 2019, evolving from the 4G core to the 5G SA (5G Standalone) core provides new opportunities for service innovation. As 5G SA next generation services evolve, the industry is naturally evaluating which services to offer and how to enable them through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

I am a product manager on Verizon’s ThingSpace team focused on network intelligence APIs. ThingSpace is Verizon’s organic platform used by thousands of developers for IoT and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) management. This platform supports millions of API transactions per month. Since IoT is a scale business, other Verizon product managers internally look at our group as the model by which to offer API services.

APIs are the lifeblood of the digital economy and are becoming a currency for 5G innovation. They enable seamless interactions between systems, applications, and devices. APIs abstract the complexity of 5G networks while exposing valuable network intelligence and provisioning capabilities.

For example, the 5G SA core is the first mobile core to be designed with a service-based (API-native) architecture. The network functions communicate among themselves using HTTPS APIs and external applications can use those same APIs via an API gateway.

The developer’s customer journey

It is important to consider APIs in the context of the developer’s customer journey. For developers working on IoT and FWA, there are three milestones in their journey: qualification, activation, and diagnostics.

For fixed wireless, 5G network intelligence APIs can answer key qualification questions such as:

● Is there 5G coverage at the specified band(s)?

● Is there enough capacity to sustain the desired use case?

● In what direction are the nearest cell sites?

Optimizing qualification before provisioning increases the likelihood of a successful fixed deployment. For example, knowing the direction of the cell sites can help position external antennas.

Activation for devices is the first provisioning step before deployment.

Provisioning may include:

● Checking if the hardware is compatible and available (not already activated)

● Specifying the desired price plan and feature set

● Specifying the desired network type such as dynamic, private, or static IP

Once devices are deployed in the field – it’s important to monitor them in case performance issues arise.

Network intelligence APIs can answer questions such as:

● How much data usage has this device consumed?

● When did it last connect to the network?

● Where is the last known location of the device?

● How healthy has the network connection been over the last 30 days?

● Is there a network outage in this area?

Unlock network intelligence in your solution

Developer personas for 5G APIs range above and beyond just IoT and FWA. In the world of IoT, this type of network intelligence augments the raw IoT application data providing much broader context for the solution. In turn, this enables business outcomes including time to market, better-informed decisions, lower cost, and higher up-time.

Khamis Abulgubein will be speaking at Light Reading Network X Americas. Join us in Texas from May 21-23, 2024, to hear the latest industry news on network APIs.