Nokia and Orange claimed software developers would reap benefits in terms of access to the operator’s 5G network as they unveiled an expanded API collaboration intended to boost programmability and revenue opportunities from the infrastructure.

The companies are making Nokia’s Network as a Code platform available to developers seeking to create apps compatible with Orange’s 5G network, adding to the operator’s work in providing commercial APIs through its own portal.

Nokia stated the companies will provide developers with access to SDKs, network API documentation, a coding sandbox to simulate and test use cases, and so-called code “snippets” for use in new applications.

The companies are jointly hosting a hackathon at the VivaTech event running this week in Paris, which “will provide a forum for developers to build new, innovative use cases and applications”.

Nokia’s platform employs technical standards from “industry initiatives such as the GSMA Open Gateway initiative and the Linux Foundation CAMARA”.

Orange CTO Laurent Leboucher said the latest collaboration with Nokia “enables compelling business use cases to consume our network assets in ways that were not really feasible years ago”.

He added the current level of “collaboration among operators, system integrators, developers and partners is a step change” which puts Orange in a better position to “tap the cloud-native capabilities” of its 5G network.