Deutsche Telekom, O.2 Telefónica and Vodafone are launching SIM Swap and Number Verify APIs on the Vonage platform to combat online fraud and are also working with Siemens Energy on on-demand augmented reality quality testing.
BARCELONA, February 26, 2024: As part of the global GSMA Open Gateway initiative, Germany's three major mobile operators: Deutsche Telekom, O2 Telefónica and Vodafone today announced the commercial launch of a new service designed to help application developers and businesses combat online fraud and protect the digital identities of mobile customers.
Network APIs represent a new business model for German operators by bringing these network capabilities to developers and enterprises to improve existing services or create new services. The German mobile industry hopes that today's announcement will accelerate the growth of digital services and applications, ensuring that they integrate seamlessly with national mobile networks, as well as hundreds of others around the world.
The two network APIs (application programmable interfaces) are available in the CAMARA standard and can help mobile commerce and financial institutions develop new services to combat digital fraud and protect mobile subscribers in Germany. For example, identification to log in to website and app user accounts can now run automatically in the background using number verification instead of two-factor authentication, where customers receive a one-time password via SMS and must enter it manually.
The three operators are working with technology partner Vonage, part of Ericsson, to make the APIs available to enterprise developers. Vonage is already working together with its client, Vinted, Europe's leading international online C2C marketplace dedicated to second-hand fashion, to integrate these new APIs.
Launched at MWC Barcelona a year ago, GSMA Open Gateway is a common, open framework between operators to make it easier for application developers, enterprises and cloud providers to create more secure applications and services that communicate seamlessly with each other. This is done through unique, programmable access points to mobile networks known as APIs. From Argentina to China, from the US to Australia, 47 mobile operator groups around the world, representing 239 mobile networks and 65% of global connections, are already part of the initiative.
Improve online security and combat mobile fraud
Fraud prevention is one of the biggest issues app developers across markets are looking to address right now, and fraudulent misuse and fake accounts pose a major threat to their business models.
The new Open Gateway APIs released today will enable teams of developers and partners to create new intelligent layers of client authentication, verification and security within mobile networks.
The new services will also make online authentication simpler and faster for online customers, as mobile applications, cloud services and connectivity networks will be interoperable through APIs.
The APIs that the German operators will introduce are:
- Check number– is launched commercially and will be used to verify a user's mobile number providing the next generation of strong authentication and user experience. It's a simple evolution path for any business using mobile numbers and SMS one-time passwords. Instead of relying on SMS, Number Verify can be activated automatically and seamlessly to verify a user's identity. This not only improves the user experience but also mitigates potential issues such as users not receiving an SMS or facing difficulties due to limited familiarity with the technology.
- SIM swap: It is available for developer preview and will be used to check if a given phone number has recently changed SIM cards. This helps mitigate account takeover attacks, where fraudsters take control of the account owner's SIM card using social engineering techniques and stolen personal data. For example, at the time of a financial transaction, a financial institution can check whether the relationship between the customer's phone number and SIM card has recently changed, which helps it decide whether to approve the transaction or not.
German operators work with Siemens Energy to test Quality on Demand API
German operators are already working on additional APIs and are also testing Quality on Demand (QoD) APIs. The mobile industry hopes to enable new services around augmented reality, robotics, the use of commercial drones and immersive online gaming, through these APIs, ensuring that data connections are optimized for consistent and reliable connections, even with lower latency.
A business partner that Deutsche Telekom, O.2 Telefónica and Vodafone are testing QoD API with Siemens Energy. Siemens Energy operates in more than 90 countries and supports customers across the energy sector. Technicians on site use Microsoft HoloLens 2 and Remote Assist, an augmented reality application. The app displays critical information and guidance directly in the technicians' field of view. With these tools, remote experts can support technicians and help solve complex problems.
Siemens Energy is using APIs to perform virtually assisted remote maintenance that requires consistently high network quality to enable broad deployment even in locations without stable connectivity.
“The Quality-on-Demand Network API is improving the daily work of our experts. Our remote engineers can now interact through augmented headsets with minimal delay and best resolution. This ensures that they can offer the best possible advice to their colleagues on site and increase customer satisfaction,” said Mark Schaefer, Vice President IT at Siemens Energy. “By ensuring a quality connection, we are improving our maintenance times while reducing travel times, costs and environmental footprint. “Unifying the mobile industry behind this common framework also means that we will be able to deploy this solution in more markets, without having to worry about the complexities of integration in each country.”
GSMA Open Gateway Plans for 2024
As part of the GSMA Open Gateway initiative, these APIs will be federated locally and globally, meaning that in addition to mobile customers in Germany, developers will also be able to reach new customers outside of Germany as the initiative grows. Through the global initiative, companies and developers can also access new markets with their services, allowing them to earn new revenue by marketing them around the world.
Peter Arbitter, Senior Vice President of Magenta API Capability Exposure (MACE) at Deutsche Telekom, said: “5G network APIs represent an important new business area for telecom operators. The GSMA Open Gateway initiative helps expand the reach of our offerings by aggregating in key markets for our customers, while maintaining a consistent user experience.”
Alfons Lösing, managing partner and wholesale director of O2 Telefónica stated: “Open Gateway opens the door to new business models for mobile network operators. Based on our standardized network APIs, we enable partners and application developers to drive new services for private and commercial customers and accelerate digital innovations. “This will make our network even more important as a digital lifeline.”
Johanna Wood, head of developer strategy at Vodafone, said: “Developers play a key role in accelerating innovative digital services within a scaled ecosystem between network operators and enterprises. “Vodafone is excited to be part of the Open Gateway initiative, which is an important step forward in making these services more accessible by promoting open standards in the developer community.”
Savinay Berry, executive vice president of Product and Engineering at Vonage, said: “Ericsson and Vonage are leading the development of a global network platform by opening the network to third-party developers to make capabilities universally available for further innovation. With developers thriving on a well-built and supported API platform, businesses can grow from new, unique and customizable API innovations, while communication service providers benefit from network monetization and growth opportunities. . “We are committed to making CAMARA successful and aim to be a driver of CAMARA’s future evolution.”
Henry Calvert, Director of Networks at GSMA, said: “Online security and fraud are important challenges that we all need to overcome as an industry for customers to feel safe and for the market to flourish. “It is therefore great to see German operators coming together with technology partners and online commerce platforms to address this threat, through the Open Gateway initiative.”
Germany's GSMA Open Gateway ecosystem will be enhanced in 2024, with additional partners such as Microsoft Azure to make the first CAMARA APIs available. GSMA Open Gateway APIs are defined, developed and published in CAMARA, the open source project for developers to access enhanced networking capabilities, powered by the Linux Foundation, in partnership with TM Forum.
–ENDS-
Notes to editors:
About the GSMA
The GSMA is a global organization that unifies the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver critical innovation for positive business environments and social change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organizations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA offers its members three broad pillars: connectivity for good, industry services and solutions, and outreach. This activity includes advancing policy, addressing today's biggest societal challenges, supporting the technology and interoperability that make mobile devices work, and providing the world's largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.
