December 3, 2024 at 7:45 AM

Open Letter to Telecommunications Industry

Dear Colleagues in the Telecommunications Industry,

The telecommunications landscape continues evolving after the “launch” of RCS and the continued interest in Network APIs. We must recognize and capitalize on the rapidly expanding opportunities before us as industry leaders. According to recent research from S&P Global, the market for network authentication is currently valued at $12.6 billion in 2024. This presents a significant window for mobile network operators (MNOs) to enhance their revenue streams, particularly by leveraging Anti-Fraud APIs, which account for the lion's share of this opportunity—97% of revenue in the S&P Global Market Intelligence Report.

However, the current state of Network API readiness shows that we are not moving fast enough. Only 5% of MNOs worldwide have partially deployed network APIs. While the other 95% would like to deploy Network APIs to the market, MNOs are being led to believe they need to prioritize 5G network infrastructure investments, thus delaying ROI for years. Much of this delay can be attributed to pressure applied by the OEM to purchase additional network components that are unnecessary for deploying Anti-Fraud Network APIs.

The GSMA has been leading the standardization of APIs and bringing the MNOs and industry together, but these efforts are insufficient to address MNOs' hesitation. This lack of action, at no fault of the MNOs, is causing an imbalance of supply and demand as brands, financial institutions, and enterprise developers are clamoring for Network APIs to secure their mobile-first brand experiences.

At Shush, our concern is that without some dramatic change, Network APIs will follow the slow and lackluster growth of RCS over the last few years.

Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. The industry can look back at the missteps in the much-delayed adoption of RCS. The delayed adoption of RCS offers a valuable lesson for the telecom industry. RCS was poised to revolutionize messaging but was held back by slow carrier rollouts, inconsistent global support, and a fragmented approach to implementation. These missteps allowed over-the-top (OTT) messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to dominate the market. MNO suffered from this by purchasing new equipment to support P2P/A2P RCS with no business case.

At Shush, we know that MNOs already have the infrastructure required to start monetizing Network APIs if the correct APIs are prioritized. Two types of Network APIs are available today - Anti-Fraud APIs (which we call Network Authentication APIs) and NaaS (Network-as-a-Service) APIs like MEC, Network Slicing, QoS, and QoD. The following three points need to be considered by all MNOs planning next steps with Network Authentication APIs.

Revenue Opportunities. S&P Global Market Intelligence has published a study that shows 97% of current Revenues from Network APIs come from Anti-Fraud APIs, while only 3% are from NaaS APIs.
Purchase Additional Network Equipment. Exposing Anti-Fraud APIs to the market requires no new Network Elements, while NaaS APIs require several new, expensive Network Elements. Industry estimates suggest that Mobile Network Carriers must invest an additional $40 billion in new equipment and software to implement Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) solutions.
Time to Market. Carriers can start exposing Anti-Fraud APIs quickly since no additional network elements are needed, while Carriers will have to wait 18 months to 2 years before delivering NaaS APIs if not already installed.

Shush is bullish on Network APIs as we focus only on Anti-Fraud APIs for Mobile Network Operators, which are directly linked to revenue and require no additional network investment.

Furthermore, Shush brings the other three elements an MNO needs to be successful in the space: (1) a Monetization Platform, (2) Integration services from your network to the Monetization Platform, and (3) Business Operations that care for Privacy, limits liability, pricing guidance for the APIs, and contractual experience to connect to the Demand ecosystem. These three elements make up the core foundation of a Network Authentication business - not just another OEM box. At Shush, we are dedicated to building a successful Network Authentication business for each of our MNO clients.

The time to act is now. By embracing the next generation of network authentication solutions, we can lead the charge toward a more secure, efficient, and profitable future.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this in greater detail and explore how Shush Inc. can partner with your organization to drive this innovation forward.

Sincerely,
Eddie DeCurtis
Co-Founder & CEO, Shush Inc.