The industry body is calling the programme the Open Gateway initiative.
The trade industry body says the new industry-wide initiative is designed to provide universal access to operator networks for developers.
APIs or Application Programmable Interfaces are a set of definitions and protocols for building and integrating software. It allows different software products to communicate with each other seamlessly.
The Open Gateway is launching with the support of 21 mobile operators. The GSMA says the initiative represents a “paradigm shift” in the way the telecoms industry “designs and delivers services in an API economy world.”
“In 1987, representatives from 13 countries worked together to harmonise mobile voice services and enable roaming, and I believe that 35 years on, GSMA Open Gateway has the potential to deliver a similar impact for digital services,” says Mats Granryd, director general of the GSMA.
The GSMA says several demonstrations at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week will showcase Open Gateway-enabled use cases. These include an immersive concert experience from Axiata and an immersive gaming, and high-definition video showcase, from Orange, Telefónica, Vodafone and Ericsson/Vonage.
