Unleashing New Revenue with Carrier Billing APIs and Signalpattern
June 12, 2025
In an era where mobile drives 5.4% of global GDP—translating to $5.7 trillion in economic value—businesses can no longer afford friction in payments or slow time-to-market for new monetization channels . Telcos are exposing direct carrier billing (DCB) APIs that let users charge purchases straight to their mobile bill. For business leaders, this means tapping into a $49.3 billion market in 2025, growing at over 12% annually.
Why Carrier Billing Is a Strategic Imperative
--> Boost Conversion & ARPU
By removing credit-card friction, businesses see 15–30% higher checkout rates, according to Ovum’s forecast of carrier billing revenues leaping from $46 billion in 2018 to $79 billion by 2023.
--> Expand Market Reach
Carrier billing opens access to 5 billion mobile subscribers globally, including underbanked segments often excluded from traditional payment rails.
--> Drive Customer Loyalty
Seamless “one-tap” payments foster repeat usage, reducing churn and increasing lifetime value.
--> The Cost of Going It Alone
Integrating each telco’s billing API individually can take 3–6 months per operator, with bespoke authentication, webhooks, and reconciliation flows. This complexity delays launches, inflates engineering budgets, and burdens support teams.
Signalpattern: Your Unified Billing Engine
Signalpattern can transform multi-carrier billing into a single, business-friendly interface:85% Faster Time-to-Market
Leveraging a normalized API layer, companies cut integration time by up to 40%, echoing findings from a Forrester-backed Forrester Total Economic Impact™ study showing 40% development time savings with unified platforms.
--> Centralized Analytics & Reconciliation
One dashboard tracks transactions, disputes, and revenue share across carriers—eliminating siloed reporting.
--> Consistent UX & Compliance
Uniform “Bill to Operator” widgets and built-in consent flows ensure regulatory adherence (e.g., GDPR, local carrier guidelines) without custom work for each market.
Rapid Path from Idea to Revenue
--> Business Onboarding (Days): Sign up in Signalpattern’s portal, configure branding and callback URLs.
--> Product Definition (Hours): Map your offerings (one-time, subscription, top-ups) in a simple catalog UI.
--> Launch & Iterate (Weeks): Embed a few lines of SDK or REST calls, go live across multiple carriers simultaneously, then A/B test pricing and promotions.
Real-World Impact & ROI
A digital content provider could use Signalpattern to roll out carrier billing across three major markets in under 45 days. Once launched, they could easily achieve a 23% lift in conversions, generate $120K incremental monthly revenue, and cut reconciliation effort by 70%—paying for the platform in under two months.
Making the Business Case--> Low Up-Front Cost: Straightforward pricing aligns with revenue share—no large CapEx for custom integrations.
--> Scalable Model: Add new markets or carriers in weeks, not quarters.
--> Measurable Outcomes: Dashboards deliver real-time insights on ARPU, churn, and dispute rates—powering data-driven decisions.
Conclusion
For business leaders seeking quick wins and sustainable growth, carrier billing APIs represent an untapped channel. With Signalpattern’s unified platform, you can leapfrog technical hurdles, accelerate rollout, and focus on what matters: creating compelling offerings, delighting customers, and capturing new revenue.
Hyperscalers and Telcos Unite, And How Signalpattern Accelerates Adoption
June 01, 2025
In our last post, we explored how Network Service Provider (NSP) APIs have evolved from foundational connectivity tools into strategic assets that power real-time analytics, security services, and edge-computing use cases for enterprises. Today, the conversation turns toward the next frontier: the influence of hyperscalers and cloud-native platforms on the network API landscape, and where Signalpattern can add immediate, tangible value.
As NSPs increasingly partner with major cloud providers, both sides are racing to unlock new revenue streams, lower integration friction, and embed network intelligence into broader digital ecosystems. This post examines recent developments in hyperscaler–NSP collaborations, the rise of Open Gateway frameworks, and practical takeaways for organizations aiming to harness these advances, with specific notes on how Signalpattern can help.
1. Hyperscaler–Telco Partnerships Go Mainstream
Over the past few months, several high-profile announcements have underscored that collaborations between telcos and hyperscalers are no longer experimental side projects, they’re becoming “business as usual.” A recent IoT-Now analysis observes that telco/hyperscaler partnerships have “rapidly moved to become ‘business as usual,’ but there’s an exciting future for these relationships” . Meanwhile, Omdia’s April 2025 report highlights that hyperscalers (AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure) are positioning themselves as pivotal intermediaries for distributing network APIs to a broader ecosystem of developers, CPaaS providers, and system integrators . By co-developing API catalogs, standardizing authentication flows, and offering unified marketplaces, these cloud giants are effectively collapsing the traditional boundaries between cloud applications and network services.
Where Signalpattern Helps:
• API Discovery & Normalization: As hyperscalers and NSPs publish separate catalogs (e.g., AWS’s “Telco Connect Marketplace” vs. Azure’s “Network Functions on Demand”), enterprises face fragmentation. Signalpattern can crawl these marketplaces in real time, normalize API endpoints (e.g., “SliceControl.v2” on AWS vs. “SliceProvisioning” on Azure), and present a unified, searchable API catalog to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Unified Authentication Management: Instead of juggling separate OAuth flows or certificate-based mTLS setups per operator, Signalpattern centralizes credential storage and token refresh logic, automating federation with AWS IAM, Azure AD, or Google IAM so business apps can call network-native APIs without custom auth code.
2. The Rise of Open Gateway Frameworks
A key enabler of hyperscaler influence is the Open Gateway initiative, which aims to create standardized API frameworks that bridge 3GPP, telco OSS/BSS, and public cloud orchestration layers. According to Omdia, the Open Gateway effort, which debuted at MWC 2024, has accelerated in 2025, with major telcos contributing to a common API taxonomy and plug-and-play authentication models for functions like network slicing, QoS management, and edge compute instantiation . For example, several NSPs now expose a “Unified Slice Management API” that abstracts away vendor-specific orchestration details, enabling cloud-native applications to request ultra-low-latency slices without needing to understand underlying 5G core architectures. This convergence of standards lowers integration costs, as enterprises and developers no longer need to stitch together disparate interfaces for each operator.
3. Hyperscaler-Led 5G Core Deployments
Beyond standardization efforts, hyperscaler–NSP collaborations are materializing in real deployments:
Telefónica Germany on AWS:
Recently migrated its 5G core to AWS’s public cloud. By shifting control plane functions to AWS and Nokia’s cloud-native core, Telefónica achieves greater scalability, faster feature rollout, and tighter integration with AWS’s edge services .
AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon & Aduna:
Multiple carriers are now jointly leveraging Aduna’s standardized 5G Network APIs (Number Verification, SIM Swap) with Ericsson providing backend orchestration . Hyperscalers host critical network functions (5G core, policy control, subscriber data management), gaining unrivaled visibility into network performance metrics, insights that can be repackaged as premium analytics services for enterprise customers.
Where Signalpattern Helps:
• Real-Time KPI Dashboards: Signalpattern ingests telemetry from AWS CloudWatch logs (e.g., slice usage, packet drop rates) alongside SVN-collected telco metrics. By combining this data, Operations teams can visualize “slice health vs. business KPI” in a single dashboard, alerting at the moment packet loss exceeds 1% on a mission-critical slice.
• Pre-Built Alerts & Recommendations: As soon as Telefónica or Verizon opens a new 5G Core API endpoint, Signalpattern detects it, runs an automated suite of smoke tests (latency, error rates), and publishes a “Telco API Health Report” to inform IT and business users whether they can trust that API for production workflows.
4. Developer Ecosystem and CPaaS Integration
From a developer’s standpoint, hyperscaler involvement translates into access to network APIs through familiar cloud consoles and CLI tools. App Developer Magazine highlighted in late 2024 that telecom operators are shifting toward Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) models, exposing programmable interfaces that app developers can consume via AWS API Gateway, Azure API Management, or GCP’s Apigee . In practice, this means a fintech startup hosted on AWS could call an NSP’s fraud-prevention API (SIM Swap check) directly from its Lambda function, leveraging AWS’s built-in identity management to authenticate to the network-side component, simplifying what was once a multistep, operator-specific integration. Furthermore, many communications platforms (Twilio, Vonage) are increasingly packaging underlying telco APIs, such as messaging, number verification, and voice QoS, into their CPaaS offerings, underpinned by hyperscaler-hosted telco-partner services.
Where Signalpattern Helps:
• Code Templates & GitOps Pipelines:
Instead of developers searching for “AWS Telecom APIs Python example” or “Azure telco SDK for Java,” Signalpattern provides a central repo of versioned code templates. Dev teams can simply run git clone git@signalpattern.io:telco-examples.git && npm install to get started.
• Sandbox Provisioning:
Within Signalpattern, developers can click “Provision a Telco Sandbox,” which spins up ephemeral test credentials (limited-scope tokens, test phone numbers) on AT&T or Verizon’s dev portals, accelerating POC cycles from days to minutes.
5. Market Growth and Economic Implications
Market projections underscore the magnitude of these shifts. SNS Insider’s May 6, 2025, report estimates that the global Telecom API market was valued at USD 225.2 billion in 2023 and is forecast to reach USD 1,385.9 billion by 2032, propelled by 5G expansion, IoT proliferation, and the need for real-time communication APIs across industries . North America alone, accounting for over USD 51.2 billion in 2023, is expected to climb to USD 308.0 billion by 2032 . Notably, messaging APIs currently dominate with a 36 % share, driven by the explosion of SMS, RCS, and in-app chat use cases, however, IVR and location APIs are projected to witness the fastest growth as contact centers and location-based services become more API-centric.
Where Signalpattern Helps:
• Enterprise License Optimization:
As API consumption scales, enterprises risk cost overruns from per-call pricing models. Signalpattern provides usage analytics that highlight “Top 10 most-called telco APIs” and “API calls peaking outside business hours,” enabling finance teams to negotiate better volume discounts or to build caching layers where applicable.
• Cross-Operator Benchmarking:
When a company consumes network slicing from Verizon vs. AT&T, Signalpattern tracks performance and cost side-by-side. Over time, business leaders can make data-driven sourcing decisions, e.g., “Verizon slices cost 8 % less per Gb when committed to 300 slices/month vs. AT&T’s standard rates.”
6. Edge and AI Integration: The Next Layer
As hyperscalers embed telco capabilities into their cloud stacks, another technological frontier is emerging: integrating AI inference and caching logic at the network edge. Recent academic work by Barros (April 2025) proposes leveraging telco infrastructure, regional data centers, CDN nodes, near-RAN sites, as “AI edges” for reducing latency in LLM inference, effectively blending telco-grade caching with AI workloads . In tandem, carriers are exploring “Trusted eSIM for AI Agents,” where telco-hosted eSIM infrastructure could serve as a root of trust for autonomous AI services across distributed cloud environments . These concepts underscore how network APIs will increasingly not only connect devices and services but also facilitate distributed AI pipelines, enabling business applications to meet stringent performance SLAs for things like semantic search, real-time video analytics, and autonomous IoT control.
Where Signalpattern Helps:
• AI-Readiness Assessment: Via built-in connectors to AWS SageMaker, Google Vertex AI, and Azure Cognitive Services, Signalpattern can run “What-if” analyses on AI inference latencies at various MEC nodes. This helps ML engineers decide whether to train/fine-tune on remote data centers or on telco edges to meet a 5 ms inference SLA.
• Distributed Model Deployment: Signalpattern’s orchestration layer can trigger automated pipelines that push containerized AI models (e.g., TensorFlow lite or ONNX) from a central registry to edge nodes managed by Ericsson or Nokia, streamlining “CI/CD for edge AI” across both cloud and telco fabrics.
Practical Recommendations for Business and Technology Leaders
Audit Cloud and Telco Partnerships via Signalpattern
--> Evaluate your current cloud provider agreements for embedded network-service offerings. Check whether AWS, Azure, or GCP now offer integrated “Telco API Marketplaces” or “5G Connect” suites that bundle network slicing, SIM verification, and MEC instantiation.
--> Within Signalpattern, you can run a “Telco Partnership Audit” report that automatically queries AWS, Azure, and GCP APIs to enumerate your subscribed telco-related SKUs, usage tiers, and billing metrics, providing a unified view in minutes rather than manual cross-console analysis.
Leverage Open Gateway-Conformant APIs with Signalpattern
--> Prioritize NSPs and platforms that adhere to the Open Gateway framework. By choosing operators that offer standardized “Network Slice Control” and “Edge Compute Provisioning” APIs with common authentication methods (OAuth2, mTLS), you can reduce time-to-integration and avoid vendor lock-in.
--> Signalpattern continuously ingests new Open Gateway specs, once an NSP publishes a “v2 SliceManagement” spec, Signalpattern’s schema watcher flags changes, updates code SDKs, and notifies developers of backward-incompatible changes.
Embed Network Intelligence into DevOps Pipelines via Signalpattern
--> Treat network APIs as first-class citizens in your CI/CD workflows. Automate API testing, monitor response latencies, and include network-specific metrics (slice utilization, packet loss, jitter) in your telemetry dashboards.
--> Signalpattern provides native integrations with Jenkins, GitLab CI, and GitHub Actions. For example, a sample “slice-smoke-test” step in your pipeline can automatically call your NSP’s Test Slice API, validate SLA metrics, and gate a deployment on passing thresholds, ensuring that network resources meet application requirements before rolling out new code.
Explore AI-Enhanced Edge Use Cases with Signalpattern
--> Investigate pilot programs that co-host AI inference services on telco-managed MEC nodes. For example, retail and manufacturing applications that demand sub-10 ms inference times could benefit from deploying AI models at the “Telco AI Edge.”
--> Signalpattern’s “Edge AI Profiler” can simulate end-to-end latency by combining AWS Wavelength or Azure Edge Zonal metrics with real-time 5G slice performance, helping data science teams quantify performance gains before committing to full deployments.
Build Developer Communities Around Converged APIs Using Signalpattern
--> Support internal and external developer communities by offering sample code, SDKs, and sandbox environments that unify cloud-native and telco-native API calls. Consider co-sponsoring hackathons with your NSP or hyperscaler partner to surface new ideas, such as AI-driven QoS optimization or blockchain-powered network-API registries.
--> Signalpattern’s “Community Portal” can host interactive tutorials, code snippets, and live sandboxes, enabling developers to spin up test credentials for Verizon, AT&T, or Deutsche Telekom with a single click. This lowers the barrier for experimentation and helps drive adoption of new network API capabilities.
Looking Ahead
The collision of hyperscalers and telcos around network APIs is accelerating a broader shift toward “Connectivity-as-Code.” No longer confined to legacy OSS/BSS silos, network functions are being exposed in cloud-friendly formats that signal the end of “API plateaus” and the dawn of true network programmability. For business leaders, the imperative is clear: to stay competitive in 2025 and beyond, it’s no longer enough to consume bandwidth; organizations must integrate network-level intelligence, ranging from dynamic slicing to edge AI, directly into their workflows.
SIGNALPATTERN SITS AT THE CENTER OF THIS TRANSFORMATION:Discovery & Cataloging:
We aggregate hyperscaler and NSP API catalogs into a single searchable interface.
Orchestration & Automation:
We generate SDKs, pipelines, and no-code flows so that business users and developers alike can embed “Telco+Cloud” features without reinventing the wheel.
Monitoring & Optimization:
We unify telemetry, cloud logs, telco metrics, and application performance, into consolidated dashboards, enabling real-time course corrections and cost optimizations.
Community & Enablement:
By providing sandbox provisioning, code templates, and learning resources, we fuel the developer ecosystems that drive innovation.
Those who move quickly to harness these new capabilities, surfacing telco functionality through familiar cloud constructs, will secure not only performance advantages but also the ability to innovate services that straddle both cloud and connectivity. Signalpattern is here to help accelerate that journey.
From Back Office to Boardroom:
Why Network APIs Are Everyone’s Business Now
May 29, 2025
Last week at Network X Americas in Irving, Texas, we were honored to take home the Startup Championship—a recognition we don’t take lightly. More than a trophy, this moment reflects the industry’s growing acknowledgment that network APIs are no longer just tools for engineers. They're becoming powerful assets for the front office, unlocking value for business users across operations, customer service, and innovation teams.
The Changing Face of Telecom APIs
For years, network service providers (NSPs) built APIs with developers in mind—often as technical endpoints for provisioning or monitoring transport. But the API economy has matured, and the telco sector is finally catching up.
From network slicing to edge compute to fraud prevention APIs, we're now seeing telecom APIs evolve into real-time, business-enabling services. And what’s even more exciting? They’re not just for network engineers anymore.
With Signalpattern, our belief is simple: If APIs remain locked in the server room, we all miss out on their real potential.
Empowering the Front Office
The front office—sales, marketing, customer support, and operations—relies on agility, insights, and automation. But without access to real-time network data, their decisions are often based on lagging or incomplete information.
That’s where the new wave of telecom APIs comes in:
• Sales teams can use network slicing APIs to guarantee QoS for demos or customer pilots.
• Operations managers can tap into edge-compute APIs to streamline real-time analytics on the shop floor.
• Support teams can integrate fraud-prevention APIs directly into CRM systems to cut account takeover rates.
This is the mashup opportunity we’re passionate about—where network APIs converge with enterprise systems (CRM, ERP, SCM) to unlock smarter workflows and better outcomes.
From Vision to Execution: What’s Happening in the Market
The momentum is real. At NetworkX, we saw firsthand how far NSPs have come:Verizon’s Frontline Network Slice is live across U.S. cities, boosting performance for public safety apps.
• AT&T’s MEC APIs, in partnership with IBM and Microsoft, are enabling low-latency retail and healthcare experiences.
• Aduna's SIM-Swap and Number Verification APIs are driving fraud reduction at financial institutions.
• And the TM Forum’s Open API Manifesto has hit 200+ signatories—standardizing access and slashing integration costs.
Why Signalpattern?
With Signalpattern, we’re building on these trends with a clear mission: Make telecom APIs simple, discoverable, and business-friendly.
Our flagship product, SignalStrength, is a great example. Originally designed to demystify Meraki WiFi management for non-technical users, SignalStrength has grown into a platform that empowers every business user to understand and act on network health.
With real-time diagnostics, AI-powered recommendations, and step-by-step resolutions, we’re proving that you don’t need to be an IT expert to get the most out of your network infrastructure.
And we’re applying the same design philosophy to NSP APIs—surfacing their value in formats that business users can consume, remix, and benefit from.
What’s Next?
The $300B opportunity in telecom APIs won’t be captured by network operators alone. It’ll be realized by those who understand how to bring APIs into the day-to-day workflows of real business users.
Signalpattern is here to help close that gap.To our fellow startups and innovators: keep building.To NSPs: keep opening up.
