By Michael Carroll
Axiata reveals the steps to API heaven
APIs have become almost essential for mobile operators, enabling them to unlock the full capability and revenue potential of networks, Dr Hans Wijayasuriya, group Executive Director and CEO of the Telecommunications Business at Axiata Group, told MWC Daily News.
Ahead of his appearance at the Gateway to API Heaven session today (Hall 6, Stage B 4.30pm), Wijayasuriya explained the interfaces are now an essential means of exposing operator networks to in-house and external developers, hyperscale companies and other ecosystems.
API gateways provide a broad-based “fundamental concept of network exposure, expanding the capability of a single API to the power of multiple APIs used in combination, and many-to-many mapping between sources and uses of APIs”.
Wijayasuriya said in the 5G era, API gateways have “become a fundamental building block of a telco architecture”.
There are benefits to be had for internal operations in addition to external opportunities. The executive explained gateways can boost mobile operator “agility and competitiveness in terms of faster go-to-market and elevated customer experience” in the form of “highly customisable products and services”.
Wijayasuriya noted the fundamentals of an API gateway are “not unique to the telco industry”. With many proprietary and open-source options available in the market, he said it “seldom makes sense to reinvent the wheel” in terms of the fundamental capabilities.
Over the past decade, Axiata has learned much about managing APIs, developing an approach involving using existing standards-compliant building blocks and then developing “extended capabilities and tools to ensure the API gateway can ultimately generate the anticipated value in terms of network monetisation”, along with the experience of partners and developers.
Wijayasuriya said the operator group has developed APIs covering advanced quality of service and traffic shaping for 4G and 5G, including “network plug-ins to control throughput and latency”. Other developments include marketplace functionalities “to enhance ease of API” publication, discovery and re-use; multi-party settlement capabilities the executive said are important elements in revenue generation; and scalability and interoperability efforts.
Axiata is also a frontrunner in implementing GSMA Open Gateway APIs on a commercial basis, one of a number of initiatives Wijayasuriya said it took a leading position in.
“An API gateway should be seen as the foundation of a much larger play in the global API economy, which encompasses scale, scope and impact way beyond the confines of a single telco,” he added.