Singapore-based mobile operator StarHub is working with Nokia on application programming interfaces (APIs) to monetise its 4G and 5G network assets with local enterprises. The pair are looking to enable 4G and 5G access for developers to use network data about such things as ‘device status’ and quality-of-service (QoS), and thereby afford their customers some flexibility and control in their enterprise applications. They are targeting the banking and finance and shipping and logistics sectors, among “other enterprise verticals”.
StarHub has two million customers in Singapore. It will use Nokia’s ‘network-as-a-code’ platform and developer portal to give developers access to its 4G and 5G network capabilities, to be made available to customers in their enterprise solutions. “The platform provides developers standardised access to network functions through APIs without having to navigate the underlying network technologies,” said a statement. They are working “closely” with developers, they said, to develop “new applications” to raise new 4G/5G revenues.
Around 45 operators use Nokia’s developer and API tools, including BT, Orange, Telefonica, and Telecom Argentina – which use its network-as-code platform, specifically. It also works within the network-API ecosystem with the likes of hyperscalers like Google Cloud, comms platform as-a-service (CPaaS) providers like Infobip, and various system integrators independent software vendors. StarHub is involved in the GSMA’s Open Gateway and Linux Foundation’s CAMARA projects to define new technical standards for network APIs to create new use cases. Nokia contributes to both, as well.
Nokia stated: “Nokia’s network API strategy is centered around connecting multiple API ecosystems through its Network as Code platform. By offering operators the broadest range of network exposure options, paired with robust multi-tier API security, the platform ensures that operators of all sizes can provide developers with simplified access to network functionalities.” Shkumbin Hamiti, head of its network monetization platform, said the company’s approach is to drive new business models for operators and developers in the spirit of “innovation, sustainability, collaboration, and productivity.”
Ayush Sharma, chief technology officer at StarHub, said: “We are pleased to deepen our partnership with Nokia to deliver a simplified and improved developer experience. Giving developers access to a wider selection of attractive network APIs is critical to unlocking the full value of 5G and 4G networks in Singapore and the wider region.”
Last week, a study by by UK research group STL Partners said there remains a glaring lack of knowledge among software developers about APIs for 4G/5G networks. A survey claims 55 percent of software developers don’t associate the ‘network APIs’ with 5G networks. Instead, APIs are for management of wider IT, IoT, and cloud networks – so far as they are concerned.
The poll – cof 415 application developers in the US and the UK – says a lack of familiarity with cellular network APIs, and therefore with how to harness developing 5G capabilities in software applications, is a problem, but also an opportunity for network operators. “Telcos need to strike a fine balance between demonstrating new capabilities and delivering services in a way developers are already familiar with.”
