A new study from Juniper Research predicts that communications services, such as rich media messaging and conversational AI, will represent 32% of operator revenue from network application programming interfaces (APIs) by 2027.
Juniper Research anticipates that the requirement for management tools over growing rich media technologies, such as RCS (Rich Communication Services) business messaging, will be a key driving factor in this growth in revenue.
Communications APIs provide connections between operator networks and external applications; allowing third-party developers to integrate operator communication services into their applications.
To mitigate declining SMS revenue, operators must capitalise on the growth of rich media messaging by supporting communications APIs and offering more comprehensive messaging campaign management tools suited to RCS business messaging. These tools must include number verification for user identification and the use of LLMs (Large Language Models) for conversational AI capabilities.
API frameworks, such as the Open Gateway and CAMARA, provide the ideal platform for operators to expose these communications APIs to enterprises and increase the value proposition of RCS for mobile messaging. However, to maximise the reach of these APIs, operators must look to develop their own API platforms that enable easy integration of these APIs into third-party enterprise platforms.
Molly Gatford, Research Author, said, “With the rise of Over the Top (OTT) messaging and undetected flash calling, operators’ positions in the mobile messaging space, and revenue, is under threat despite owning the networks this traffic is sent over. Communications APIs represent a perfect opportunity for operators to maintain traffic termination revenue as demand for SMS declines.”
