The GSMA expanded membership to its Open Gateway initiative by adding China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, taking support to 29 mobile operators globally

China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom collectively handle 1.7 billion mobile connections, suggesting the Open Gateway initiative is gathering pace.

The initiative provides a framework of common network APIs to enable developers and cloud service providers to collaborate with mobile operators to accelerate development of digital services and apps.

In a statement, the GSMA explained members of the initiative now represent around 60 per cent of global mobile connections.

At a press conference ahead of MWC23 Shanghai, GSMA director general Mats Granryd (pictured, left) said China represents the largest 5G market in the world, meaning having the “three largest operators committed to this initiative demonstrates its global significance and the strong business case it offers”.

Granryd believes the initiative has the potential to deliver the same levels of significant change for digital services as GSMA work to harmonise voice services and enable roaming services did 35 years ago.

As operators launch early-adopter programmes, Granryd expects “we will see more APIs in the coming year, creating new global markets, offering new services and new functionality”.

The industry-wide programme was unveiled at MWC23 Barcelona and is designed to provide universal access to operator networks for developers.

It was backed by 21 operators at launch.