Telefonica Digital selected Apigee as its API management platform partner, building on a partnership in place between Apigee and Telefonica’s BlueVia developer effort.

In a statement, the companies said that the Apigee platform will “serve as the technology foundation for a variety of Telefonica Digital initiatives designed to expand the ecosystem of third-party applications built on its network-based services and assets.”

Apigee has been selected as a partner by companies including AT&T, KT, Telenor, Vodacom and the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC).

According to Chet Kapoor, CEO of Apigee: “Telefonica Digital is reaching out to new markets through developer ecosystems, and we look forward to working with them as their API programs continue to grow.”

The operator set up its Digital unit last year, in order to “bolster Telefonica’s place in the digital world and leverage any growth opportunities arising in this environment”.

At a strategy meeting this month, Telefonica said that the Digital business is set to double in size by 2015, becoming a EUR5 billion operation.