MWC Doha was a first. Not just another regional edition of a global event, but the first Mobile World Congress hosted in Qatar — and that mattered.
I was honored to moderate this Network APIs panel on such an international stage, with a distinguished audience that underlined the importance of the moment. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many suits and ties alongside traditional thobes in one room — a powerful reminder that modern mobile operators are firmly on the strategic and national agenda in this region.
The panel brought together perspectives from across the ecosystem, with speakers from Vodafone, ServiceNow, and Hemaayah, and it followed directly after the official announcement of the first live Network APIs in Qatar.
Against that backdrop, this session sat at an important junction: moving from announcement to interpretation.
From launch to discussion
The panel followed a clear milestone for the Qatari market: the announcement of the first live Network APIs in Qatar, delivered through collaboration between Ooredoo and Vodafone. This was not theoretical. These APIs were real, available, and ready to be used.
Johanna Wood, Head of Network APIs at Vodafone Group, had just outlined how Vodafone is approaching Network APIs globally, grounding the story in tangible use cases and real results. Fraud detection, authentication, and early steps toward programmable connectivity were all framed around solving business problems — not showcasing network features.
With that context set, it was time to shift gears.
The key question for the panel was no longer what Network APIs are, but what they mean — today in Qatar, and over the coming years as these capabilities begin to scale.
Shifting the conversation to business outcomes
The purpose of the discussion was very deliberate: to talk about Network APIs as a business capability, not a standards or technology exercise.
Fraud was the natural starting point because it is already a well-understood problem with clear ownership and budgets. Vodafone’s experience with Scam Signal in the UK — delivering a 25–40% improvement in detecting socially engineered fraud — illustrated what “real value” looks like when telco signals are integrated directly into enterprise decision-making.
The insight that emerged was simple but important: Network APIs create value when they become decision inputs inside other people’s systems, not standalone telco products.
Authentication, trust, and reducing visible friction
From fraud, the conversation naturally moved into authentication and identity.
Rather than positioning Network APIs as a wholesale replacement for existing mechanisms, the discussion focused on making trust quieter and more intelligent. Age verification signals, KYC Match scoring, and tenure context allow enterprises to improve confidence without adding visible friction for users.
In fast-growing digital markets like the Middle East — where fintech, super-apps, and e-commerce are scaling rapidly — this balance between trust and user experience is critical. Network APIs sit exactly at that intersection when they are exposed and packaged in a way enterprises can actually consume.
Where ServiceNow fits: turning signals into actions in the AI era
This is where the role of ServiceNow became central to the discussion.
Elie Abouatme, Head of TMT Europe at ServiceNow, represented the enterprise workflow layer — the place where signals turn into actions. Enterprises do not buy APIs directly; they buy outcomes such as reduced fraud, faster onboarding, and automated issue resolution.
Network APIs only become meaningful when they are embedded into workflows that already run the business. A SIM swap signal, for example, only creates value when it triggers something concrete: blocking a transaction, opening a fraud case, escalating an issue, or updating a customer record.
From a ServiceNow perspective, this becomes even more important as AI-driven and agentic workflows begin to take shape. Automated systems need trusted tools. Network APIs can become part of that toolset — but only if they are standardized, reliable, and available at scale. Automation does not tolerate ambiguity or fragmentation.
Innovation, inclusion, and new services
The startup perspective added a broader and more human dimension to the conversation.
Mohsin Termezy, Founder of Hemaayah LLC, spoke about migrant workers in the GCC sending significant portions of their income home, and the gaps that exist around identity, protection, and family-based services. His point was not about APIs themselves, but about relationship intelligence.
Telcos, almost uniquely, have the potential to act as trusted intermediaries for identity and relationships — not just for individuals, but for families and communities. Exposed responsibly, those signals can enable new services in insurance, protection, and financial wellness.
In a region defined by cross-border flows and diverse populations, this dimension of the Network API conversation is particularly relevant.
Supporting the builders behind the use cases
One theme that became increasingly clear during the panel — and in the conversations around it — is that Network APIs will not succeed on availability alone.
Real impact will come from the people and companies building on top of them: platforms embedding APIs into enterprise workflows, startups turning network signals into new services, and product teams translating raw capabilities into outcomes customers are willing to pay for.
As an industry, we have not always been great at supporting these builders once the proof-of-concept stage is over. Too many promising ideas stall because they lack access to customers, commercial clarity, scale, or long-term backing.
If we want Network APIs to become a meaningful growth engine, that has to change.
This is where ecosystem enablement becomes a strategic responsibility. Supporting builders means helping them move from pilot to production, from local success to regional or global scale, and from technical feasibility to sustainable business. When those companies succeed, operators see real demand, enterprises see real value, and the entire ecosystem moves forward together.
This is also where CPaaSAA sees its role evolving: not just convening conversations or publishing frameworks, but actively helping connect the dots between operators, platforms, enterprises, and innovators — and ensuring the best ideas don’t stop at “interesting.”
From availability to meaning — and what comes next
I wrapped the panel by bringing the conversation back to economics and relevance.
We already have a multi-billion-dollar global business built on SMS one-time passwords. It’s not elegant, but it works because it delivers trust. Network APIs are not about removing trust — they are about delivering it more intelligently, more quietly, and at greater scale.
The real challenge now is not whether Network APIs exist in Qatar. They do.
The challenge is whether they will be embedded into real enterprise workflows, adopted by platforms, supported collaboratively by operators, and scaled in a way that sustains long-term innovation.
For a first MWC in Doha, with this audience and this timing, the panel felt like an important step forward — not because all the answers are clear, but because the industry is finally asking the right questions.
That conversation doesn’t stop here
The next chapter continues at MWC Barcelona, where the focus will move even further from announcements toward execution. I’ll be moderating another panel there, again deliberately centered on the business and outcomes side of Network APIs: what’s working, what’s stalling, and what needs to change for Network APIs to scale beyond early use cases.
Doha showed that Network APIs are becoming real.
MWC Barcelona next month will be about proving they matter — and helping the people building on them succeed.
If you’d like to see the full discussion and hear the nuances directly from the panel, watch the full panel video below.
