Telefónica strengthens its strategic relationship with Microsoft to drive the transformation of the telco sector, within the framework of the strategic agreement that both companies have had since 2019, as announced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC).
They will collaborate within the framework of the GSMA Open Gateway initiative.. With this global project, operators open access to their telco and network capabilities to developers, cloud service providers and enterprises in general through interoperable network APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) based on open industry standards.
“In the coming years there will be an explosion of new services that will impact our networks. To provide the best experience to our customers and offer them innovative services, the best connectivity is not enough; it is necessary to address this challenge with the involvement of the entire technology ecosystem.. Our agreement with Microsoft is fundamental to this goal, which is why we are extending our collaboration framework,” said Mark Evans, Chief Strategy & Development Officer at Telefónica.
Jason Zander, EVP, Strategic Missions and Technologies, Microsoft, said, “As cloud and communications converge, we will see a new generation of highly distributed and compatible network applications that will open up exciting new scenarios for developers. Our collaboration with Telefónica will make easier for any developer to create of these modern connected applications by accessing advanced networking capabilities from Microsoft Azure.”
During the presentation with Microsoft at the Telefónica booth at MWC, Chema Alonso, Chief Digital Officer at Telefónica, showed the first use cases that the company has developed internally and in collaboration with other companies. These are use cases based on an initial family of Telco APIs already available to drive new experiences in areas with great potential such as the optimization of connectivity, communications, security in financial services, as well as privacy and security in general.
As part of its strategic collaboration with Microsoft, Telefónica will work on. increasing developer velocity and business innovation.including development tools and software engineering methodologies, cloud services and artificial intelligence technologies, all powered by Microsoft Azure.
Telefónica has also agreed to incorporate the GitHub Enterprise platform, including GitHub Copilot, into its internal development process. GitHub will provide Telefónica with the latest version of its services as soon as they become commercially available, and will provide the necessary services to align its technology stacks with Telefónica’s business objectives.
