Singtel said that the new API exchange will leverage its Paragon platform
Bridge Alliance, which is a group of 34 mobile operators, and Singaporean telco Singtel announced a strategic partnership to accelerate regional Application Programming Interface (API) federation with a telco API exchange powered by Singtel’s Paragon, Singtel said in a release.
The Asian telco explained that Paragon is an all-in-one orchestration platform for telco networks.
Bridge Alliance is launching the Bridge Alliance API Exchange (BAEx), which leverages Paragon to aggregate its member operators’ network authentication, user verification and network quality APIs. With BAEx, Singtel said that enterprises and developers can streamline the deployment of new services on member operator networks by accessing a common API framework, which provides secure, consistent and on-demand access to telco network capabilities across multiple regions.
Singel also noted that BAEx will significantly reduce complexity and friction for enterprise customers, developers and solution providers through its unified integration, simplified commercial framework and common operational support model. The APIs offered will support regional and global enterprise use cases in fintech, e-commerce and over-the-top providers starting with network authentication, user verification and location tracking functions.
Mike Heffner, VP of enterprise platforms at Singtel’s Digital InfraCo, said: “Enterprises that have operations spanning multiple countries and regions, will depend on reliable, high-quality connectivity to meet their mission-critical business needs and ensure seamless operations. We are pleased to collaborate with Bridge Alliance to leverage Singtel Paragon’s capabilities and offer a unified and consistent way to manage, orchestrate and expose APIs of its member telecommunication operators.”
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Ong Geok Chwee, CEO of Bridge Alliance, said the partnership aim to accelerate telco API exposure to enable the alliance’s member operators to serve the needs of enterprise customers.
Singtel and Korean carrier SK Telecom recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the aim of collaborating on building next-generation telecommunications networks over the next two years.
Under the terms of the deal, the partners will explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI), orchestration tools and deepen the domain knowledge of network virtualization and other technologies, which are central to laying the necessary building blocks for progressing to future 6G systems.
The two Asian carriers said that they will also work together on developing differentiated solutions to elevate their network capabilities such as edge-AI infrastructure. The pair noted that this initiative is expected to not only enhance connectivity but also provide customers with unique AI service offerings and enable the operators to restore services faster, thus improving the customer experience.
Additionally, SK Telecom and Singtel will be putting together a white paper on their advancements in areas such as virtualization, slicing and network evolution that can help other telcos globally to capitalize on the capabilities of 5G technology and also pave the way for 6G.