LIVE FROM M360 APAC, SEOUL: GSMA director general Mats Granryd (pictured) highlighted the organisation’s three-pronged approach to accelerate a move to its Open Gateway initiative, which has attracted about 270 operators representing 74 per cent of global mobile connections.

In addition to working directly with mobile operators and ecosystem players, Granryd explained it is now taking an outside-in approach.

He noted “we are not suppliers developing something for a business, we’re doing it the other way around by asking the business what is your need”?

The GSMA set up a team to go out and discover this demand.

This adds to its approach to build organic partnerships through joint and channel partners. The GSMA has 21 channel partners including Bridge Alliance, Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, Infobip and ZTE.

“There is so much opportunity here, and we are absolutely committed to making Open Gateway a success.”

He noted South Korea’s three major mobile players, SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus recently agreed to establish and commercialise open APIs.

Building on the GSMA initiative, Bridge Alliance’s API Exchange is now backed by 13 operators across the region.

Granryd also cited data forecasting operators in APAC would invest some $270 billion in capex between 2023 and 2030 to keep up with rising data traffic.

Globally, mobile revenue is not growing and is declining in many markets, while capex demands keep soaring, he said.

“This is a crucial time for us. In the coming years we have to find ways to close this gap.”

He called on operators to work with governments and politicians to develop policies and regulations which support rapid growth and innovation.