What are CPaaS and Intelligent Engagement players doing, and what do they want and need, to make Network APIs fly? A preview of and opportunity to participate in our Q1 research on Network APIs (such as Mobile No. Verify, SIM Swap, and Quality on Demand).
This article summarises the feedback we’ve had so far from CPaaSAA members pre-MWC and outlines key topics to look out for including new case studies, new products, updated market numbers and forecasts.
Avoiding MWC API Groundhog Day
Working on the development of network APIs, particularly the cellular family outlined by CAMARA and GSMA Open Gateway, can sometimes feel a little like API Groundhog Day.
As the sun rises on MWC we all feel the flood of API hype. There’s a flurry of press releases, demos and excitement, the mass commotion that is Congress itself, and then everyone goes back to their burrows and waits for the next Groundhog Day.
We hope that 2026 will turn out differently, and in a recent presentation to CPaaSAA’s The Inner Circle (for analysts’ insights), S&P Global suggested that 2026 could be a “tipping point” for network APIs. S&P’s latest research showed that by the end of 2026, 50% of operators would have at least one Open Gateway API available, and 80% by 2028, with SIM Swap and Mobile Number Verification leading in terms of implementations.
Looking back to the State of CPaaS 2025 report, we used an average of four analysts’ forecasts for the total network API forecast. This gave a total network API forecast revenue of c$16bn in 2030. We plan to look at this in more depth in our upcoming report on CPaaS and network APIs, to see if we think that is realistic, and what’s needed to maximise the opportunity.
Sources: CPaaSAA, STL Partners, Omdia, Juniper Research, Analysys Mason
Here is an outline of what we plan to do.
What’s the job of CPaaS, and what do we need to succeed?
CPaaS players are referred to as a “key channel to market” by operators and wholesale aggregators such as Aduna Global. CPaaS players are notably game too, with Vonage’s partnership with Aduna Global, and Infobip’s early pacesetting with the Brazilian telcos, for example.
Through these experiences, some issues have been flagged (more below). The key questions in our mind at CPaaSAA in 2026, are:
• What might make it different this time?
• How can we make a positive difference?
• And what is the likely route to money?
We will be publishing new research summarising our findings after MWC in late March/April.
Meanwhile, here’s a high-level overview of what we’ve found so far.
GSMA & Operators are pushing with some success
We believe our friends and partners at GSMA Open Gateway and now the new Fusion group are doing a valuable job accumulating Case Studies and interrogating enterprise and partner needs.
It is interesting to see the GSMA Fusion group almost act like a customer needs exploration lab in Enterprise, setting up sector-oriented working groups in e.g. Fraud and Manufacturing. It certainly has some reach in Enterprise, due to the significant proportion of Enterprise attendees at MWC each year – reportedly at least half of the 110,000 attendees last year for example.
It’s also good to see the telecoms operators coming together to drive the creation of Aduna Global with Ericsson. This joint venture between Ericsson and 13 operators, with more joining as partners, should help to establish more effective operational global standards and participation. The feat of getting the US operators to collaborate is a genuine feather in the cap.
The Usual Suspects: stability, federation, and developers
Member feedback so far is positive, but the usual suspects of…
• Sufficient API stability (i.e. being consistent over a period in specification and performance)
• Federation – the same API with a consistent definition being available on every operator’s network in 1) a market and 2) ideally globally
• Developer awareness and use – the lack of visibility in developer communities
…have been mentioned as issues. We can only repeat the message back to operators and the industry bodies to keep pushing on these factors.
Interestingly, we are starting to hear that the issue is less about developers and more about awareness at product and operational management levels in different sectors. If you educate the management on the benefits, they will ask the developers to look again.
Do we need more Products?
An issue that is starting to be raised is that it would be useful to see more “Products” rather than single APIs. One example we have seen is “Scam Signal” which brings together multiple signals from operator APIs to help enterprises and consumers gauge if a call is a scam.
This issue was explored in the Simon Kucher presentation to CPaaSAA’s The Inner Circle (analyst’s insights) in late 2025, and in the recent Unthinkable Lab workshop on Network APIs and AI. In the latter, an interesting idea was suggested of an “KYC Onboarding product”, combining signals from multiple APIs to give a customer an overall rating of customer identity and reliability.
More case studies, more clarity
The GSMA Open Gateway team has managed to pull together a reasonable set of API case studies, mainly from operators. We would like to add to this from CPaaSAA members’ experiences so if you have any good examples, please contact us.
Some numbers, please!
Another bugbear is the lack of any reliable and comparable market numbers for network APIs. How many are used, for what, and what is the growth trajectory in actual numbers?
Until we start to see some quantitative evidence of success, telco mobile network APIs will risk lacking credibility as a solution. How many years can go by without showing a result? And after all, what gets measured gets done. Showing even a small number is a sign of confidence and progress – and no numbers signals the opposite status.
MWC is likely to stimulate a new round of analysts’ forecasts and outlooks. We will be keeping a close eye on this, and updating our forecast view post MWC, so if you have news on this front, please let us know.
MCP & AI dreams
There is a view that AI will ultimately be the main user of network APIs. This makes some sense: AI is likely to be used increasingly extensively in enterprise IT to manage processes, and AI agents may seek out network APIs.
In theory, the recent development of MCP (Model Context Protocol) presents a great opportunity to enable this. MCP sits as a kind of user interface for LLMs, explaining the context and use of the data provided in services offered on an MCP server, such as a network API.
At the recent Unthinkable Lab on this topic, it was found that this would require significant developments in skills and capabilities by operators and indeed enterprises. MCP has some documented security and usage risks, and the telecoms industry will need to manage these as well as gauge demand in enterprise as the adoption of MCP and Agentic AI evolves.
So, while this is an idea with promise, that operators need to start work on now, it is unlikely to produce significant impact commercially in 2026.
Next Steps
See you at MWC or book a call to share your insights – please email andrew@cpaasaa.com.
Andrew Collinson
Andrew Collinson is a telecoms and connected technologies expert, specializing in growth strategy, research, and thought leadership. As founder of Connective Insights, he helps clients translate new technologies into viable business models, with a focus on CPaaS, APIs, platform strategies, AI, and network automation.
Before joining CPaaSAA as Associate Research Partner, Andrew was Research and Commercial Director at STL Partners for 15 years, leading a successful research business. He also moderates events, conducts bespoke research, and advises on telecom innovation, stakeholder dynamics, and digital transformation.
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