International Telecoms Week (ITW) – 2025
There was one clear message across ITW 2025: Telcos need to figure out who they are — are they infrastructure providers, tech companies, or platform enablers?
To stay relevant, telcos have to start thinking differently. They need to invest in programmable, developer-friendly platforms that support automation, make integration easier, and give room for others to innovate. APIs aren’t just backend plumbing anymore — they’re how services get built, delivered, and monetized.
At TelecomsXChange (TCXC), we’ve believed this since ITW 2016, where we shared that view with execs from Verizon, Telefónica, and others. We’ve stayed consistent: telcos should double down on their strengths — infrastructure, regulation, and uptime — and let others build the next layer of value on top.
This year, a few key takeaways stood out.
CAMARA Has Potential — But It’s Not Developer-First
The CAMARA API initiative has good intentions — a common framework across carriers. But real-world adoption is slow and inconsistent. Each operator is doing their own flavor of CAMARA, and that defeats the point.
More importantly, the roadmap isn’t being shaped by developers. It’s still telcos steering the ship, often with legacy thinking.
The real need? Developer experience. Whether it’s CAMARA, GSMA Open Gateway, or your own APIs — what matters is: can developers actually use it easily?
Look at Twilio and Nexmo. They didn’t wait for industry-wide standards. They just built APIs that worked and made developers productive.
Wholesale Is Still Being Ignored in the API Push
Most of the API efforts in telecom today are focused on enterprise use cases — voice bots, 2FA, messaging, etc. But wholesale, which still drives a big chunk of revenue, is often left out.
There’s no shared API approach yet for basic wholesale needs — things like:
- Interconnect automation
- Rate updates
- Voice/SMS/DID provisioning
- NOC communications
At TCXC, we’ve built exactly that: a programmable layer that gives telcos a single wallet, one agreement, and a unified API to resell voice, messaging, and numbers.
This isn’t theory — it’s working in production.
What’s more, there’s still a big divide between data wholesale and traditional telecom wholesale. Different teams, systems, and mental models. We believe that wall needs to come down — and we’re building toward that.
The Telco vs Techco Debate Is Still Stuck
Some telcos are trying to solve this by buying startups. Others are trying to build software in-house. But both routes are hard.
Acquisitions often fail because the startup ends up being run like the telco — slow processes, too much structure, culture mismatch.
Building from within? Even harder. Not just because of tech, but because of mindset. Telcos are built for stability and risk management. Tech companies thrive on speed, iteration, and occasional chaos.
It’s not a talent problem. It’s a DNA problem.
There’s a better option: collaboration. Communities like TADHack show how telcos and developers can create together. Don’t control innovation — enable it.
A More Practical Path Forward
Telcos don’t need to reinvent themselves as tech companies. What they do need is to open up their infrastructure in a clean, secure, and scalable way.
Focus on what you’re great at:
- Uptime
- Compliance
- Monetization
And let developers, startups, and partners build the rest.
Think about what the App Store did for mobile. That’s the kind of opportunity telcos have right now — to become the foundation others build on.
Be the platform. Let the innovation happen around you.
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