Summary Bullets:
• Colt and Proximus partner for a proof of concept (PoC) focusing on API collaboration based on the MEF’s Lifecycle Service Orchestration Sonata designed to enhance carrier-to-carrier automation.
• GlobalData expects wholesale providers to embrace API technology to enhance and automate inter-network functionality with the end target of delivering automated end-to-end services across multi-vendor networks.

Colt Technology Services and Proximus recently announced they have collaborated to trial a new PoC designed to enhance carrier-to-carrier automation. The collaboration was the first of its kind between the two providers and focused on provisioning network services between the UK and Belgium. The crucial aspect of the trial is that it was able to support Proximus’ Wholesale E-Access service and Colt’s On Demand Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform across both networks on an end-to-end basis.

The trial was based on the MEF’s LSO Sonata APIs, which are a crucial part of the industry standards organization’s effort to promote and enable carrier-to-carrier automation. The MEF has become one of the most important players in the wholesale scene in driving the levels of automation that are crucial for telecoms service providers to increase the efficiency of their networks and to provide the level of automation demanded by wholesale (and, to a lesser extent, enterprise) customers.

The partnership is in response to a growing awareness across the telecoms sector that for API-driven automation to work it needs to achieve scale. To do that, cooperation is necessary between a critical mass of leading industry providers. This approach has already generated success for the GSMA Open Gateway’s APIs on the mobile side. Demos such as this by Colt and Proximus are fundamental to achieving similar momentum on the fixed side. The MEF can highlight the fact that carriers who have adopted this API framework also include Verizon, Orange, Telia, Zayo, PCCW, and Lumen. It now has further evidence, albeit on a relatively small scale, of the efficacy of its APIs.

Proximus’s MEF’s E-access is a core component of its efforts to deliver a digitalized, end-to-end, Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) proposition. Longer-term, it is seeking the ability to add extra features such as universal CPE (uCPE) and virtual network functions (VNF). Colt has offered on-demand services including Ethernet and Internet for some time, and it too is adding a growing set of functions to its NaaS portfolio. Building these capabilities demands significant investment and true value will not be achieved until NaaS functionality is available off-net through a zero-touch ordering process.

Full global enablement of cross provider capable automation APIs will take multiple such PoCs. Indeed, this isn’t the first API partnership for Colt. It was one of the first to partner with AT&T to provide its business customers with the ability to place automated orders for Colt’s Ethernet Services. AT&T customers were also able to validate site addresses, check service availability, get a quote, and place automated orders on Colt’s network which saw improvement in ordering times from days or weeks to minutes.

GlobalData expects to see the adoption of API’s continue to grow in 2024. Telecommunications wholesale carriers are by no means the only players in the API space, but they will continue to play a leading role in the charge toward API ecosystems as part of the search for new ways to monetize their networks. These APIs will also pave the way for increased AI functionality within and across networks.