Ericsson completes Aduna joint venture with 12 telcos to drive network API adoption

Today, Ericsson announced the completion of the equity investments by twelve global communication service providers (CSPs) into its subsidiary Aduna, formally establishing Aduna as a 50:50 joint venture. Aduna was created to combine and sell aggregated network Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) globally. It has been operational since the deal signed on 11 September 2024. Aduna is now owned by AT&T, Bharti Airtel, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, KDDI, Orange, Reliance Jio, Singtel, Telefonica, Telstra, T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone.

The network APIs, based on the CAMARA open source project of the GSMA and Linux Foundation, are designed to enable network operators to offer services such as service level assurance, fraud prevention and authentication programmatically to application developers, similar to how those same application developers can easily spin up cloud compute instances on cloud providers like Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. For telcos and other network operators, network APIs promise the potential to leverage 5G networks for new business models and revenue streams.

The Aduna ecosystem includes additional CSPs worldwide, as well as major developer platform companies, global system integration (GSI) companies, communication platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) companies, and independent software vendor (ISV) companies. To date these include: e& (in UAE -formerly Etisalat), Bouygues Telecom, Free, CelcomDigi, Softbank, NTT DOCOMO, Google Cloud, Vonage, Sinch, Infobip, Enstream, Bridge Alliance, Syniverse, JT Global, Microsoft, Wipro and Tech Mahindra – each playing a vital role in advancing the reach and impact of network APIs worldwide.

Former Vonage COO Anthony Bartolo, became Aduna CEO this past January. He said in a statement:

“The closing of the transaction is another important step for Aduna. In just ten months we have built an impressive ecosystem comprising the biggest names in telecoms and the wider ICT industry. The closing provides renewed motivation for Aduna to accelerate the adoption of network APIs by developers on a global scale. This includes encouraging more telecom operators to join the new company, further driving the industry and developer experience.”

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A Febuary 2024 McKinsey article stated:

Network APIs are the interlocking puzzle pieces that connect applications to one another and to telecom networks. As such, they are critical to companies seamlessly tapping into 5G’s powerful capabilities for hundreds of potential use cases, such as credit card fraud prevention, glitch-free videoconferencing, metaverse interactions, and entertainment. If developers have access to the right network APIs, enterprises can create 5G-driven applications that leverage features like speed on demand, low-latency connections, speed tiering, and edge compute discovery.

In addition to enhancing today’s use cases, network APIs can lay the foundation for entirely new ones. Remotely operated equipment, semi-autonomous vehicles in production environments, augmented reality gaming, and other use cases could create substantial value in a broad range of industries. By enabling these innovations, telecom operators can position themselves as essential partners to enterprises seeking to accelerate their digital transformations.

Over the next five to seven years, we estimate the network API market could unlock around $100 billion to $300 billion in connectivity- and edge-computing-related revenue for operators while generating an additional $10 billion to $30 billion from APIs themselves. But telcos won’t be the only ones vying for this lucrative pool. In fact, with the market structure currently in place, they would cede as much as two-thirds of the value creation to other players in the ecosystem, such as cloud providers and API aggregators—repeating the industry’s frustrating experience of the past two decades.

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Telecom API Market Size and Forecast 2025 to 2034 by Precedence Research:

The global telecom API market size was estimated at USD 252.10 billion in 2024 and is anticipated to reach around USD 1741.39 billion by 2034, expanding at a CAGR of 21.32% from 2025 to 2034.

Aduna Global can potentially scale network APIs across regions, and maybe even globally, Leonard Lee, executive analyst at neXt Curve, told Fierce Network. Aduna can potentially help deliver trust and regulatory clients that network APIs need for widespread adoption. Aduna itself won’t directly offer services Aduna partners such as JT Global, Vonage and AWS already offer fraud prevention services that leverage relevant security and authentication-related network APIs, Lee said.

“You won’t likely see Aduna Global offer a fraud prevention service,” he added. “You need to look at Vonage, Infobip, Tech Mahindra and the like to offer these solutions that will likely be accessible to developers through APIs.”

References:

https://www.ericsson.com/en/press-releases/2025/7/ericsson-announces-completion-of-aduna-transaction

https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/ericsson-finalizes-network-api-venture-aduna-12-global-operators