Telefónica has joined forces with 20 other telecommunications operators to create Open Gateway, an initiative with which they seek to make their networks profitable. Signed within the framework of the GSMA mobile operator organization chaired by José María Álvarez Pallete, the agreement will open up network functions to developers through APIs.
The aforementioned APIs are lines of information exchange code, applicable to game development, the fintech world or smart mobility. And what the operators will do is create a common platform, which they will make available to the developers and which will allow them to have an additional revenue line.
“Telcos have come a long way in developing a global platform to connect everyone and everything. And now, by federating open network APIs and applying the concept of interoperability roaming, mobile operators and services on the cloud will be truly integrated to allow a new world of opportunities”, pointed out Álvarez Pallete, who this Monday participated in the first day of the Mobile World Congress that this week is being held in Barcelona.
In that same appearance, Pallete has once again asked for a “fair” contribution from the big technology companies, that is, from Google, Meta, Netflix or Amazon. The six largest companies in this sector accumulate 60% of the use of the networks, and the telcos have spent years denouncing that they do so without paying anything.
Brussels has already taken the first step to create a rate, announcing a consultation last week, something that Telefónica and the rest of the telcos have celebrated. And today Pallete has once again insisted that it is necessary to change this situation. “Telecoms are becoming supercomputers. We need a much more balanced world. This new world needs collaboration. And to collaborate, everyone needs to contribute a fair share of the effort,” said the head of Telefónica.
A very similar argument is the one put forward by the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, who has also participated in Mobile and where he has stated that “a fair distribution of network financing” is necessary. Breton, however, has also tried to convey that the consultation launched by the Commission should not become a kind of duel between telecommunications operators and large technology companies.
Likewise, Breton has called for a “serious” discussion on the existing problems for the consolidation and cross-border mergers of telecommunications companies in the EU, understanding that this is an obstacle that slows down the potential of Europe in comparison with other continents, reports EFE.
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