Polish operators Polkomtel, Orange and T-Mobile have joined forces with third-party developers and academic institutions to address the growing competition from over-the-top (OTT) players.

The collaboration will see the creation of an “open service layer” within the operators’ core networks, which will be used by developers to create communication services – such as video sharing or chat – that the operators can monetise.

Apps and services currently being developed for smartphones aren’t generating revenue for operators, despite contributing to huge increases in data traffic as they use mobile networks for distribution and to enable functionality.

Developing innovative services in core networks has historically been expensive and slow but the use of an open service layer will, claims Cambridge-based software company OpenCloud, allow developers to benefit from inexpensive and rapid innovation.