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In a huge stand of the MWC 2025 Get chaired by the slogan ‘Leading Change, Inspiral Progress’, Telefónica has deployed its arsenal of corporate alliances around Open Gateway.
Chema Alonso, visible face of the digital transformation of the Teleco, has presented a series of agreements that allow to glimpse the real strategy of the operator: convert their networks, so far mere highways, on platforms that generate income. An old yearning.
He has not done it alone: the presentation has been a parade of managers of several companies and institutions supporting the projected. Open Gatewayin fact, it is not new. The GSMA initiative has been promising to transform telecommunications networks into open platforms through standardized APIs. And according to GSMA data, it is present in 28 markets.
What is most striking is the accelerated rhythm with which Telefónica is closing agreements: more than 50 large companies and 20 commercial partners, according to the numbers that Alonso has shared.
Chema Alonso during the presentation of Open Gateway at the MWC 2025. Image: Xataka.
Among the most important ads is The expansion of your collaboration with Tiktok for Europe. The Chinese platform will use the numbers verification API to simplify the user registration, eliminating the SMS passage. But the really interesting thing is the joint creation of a new API called “AGE VERIFICATION“, which will arrive first to Brazil and then expand to other markets.
Reading between the lines is clear: Telefónica has found a way to monetize its privileged position as identity validityan increasingly valuable asset in the digital ecosystem.
The agreement with Cabify follows the same logic: provide identity verification to expedite records. In the demo there has been a saving of ten seconds: a message no longer comes, everything happens “inside”, automatically and invisible to the user. What was previously a simple SMS is now reconvigned in a premium service that companies will be willing to pay. Cabify is an example.
Carlos Herrera, Cto de Cabify, along with Chema Alonso in the demo of the API. Image: Xataka.
Telefónica is transforming what was previously an operational cost into a source of income. A good play … in the absence of seeing the real business volume it generates.
Then there is the protocol with the Community of Madrid. What the administration wants with Open Gateway is to “optimize internal processes.” In Health, Transportation, Justice and Tourism.
Movistar is positioned as well as Technological intermediary between citizens and public services. This is a space traditionally played by great technological ones, so Telefónica has found here a space to achieve one of its great desires: to be seen as another technological and not only as a telecommunications provider.
The agreements with two heavyweights, AWS and Google Cloud close the circle:
- With Amazon, Telefónica will create an innovation center to develop SAAS products aimed at operators.
- With Google you will integrate Open Gateway in Firebase to offer authentication to more than 3 million developers.
Christiaan Brand, from Firebase, along with Chema Alonso during the presentation. Image: Xataka.
It is striking that other operators such as AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile and Telenor are also adding to this last initiative, indicating a coordinated effort of the sector to recover relevance against technological platforms. They have good reasons to form a common front.
The question that floats in the Barcelona air is If these APIs will be enough to rebalance the balance of power. For years, telecos have seen how technology built multimillionaire empires on their networks while they were relegated to connectivity suppliers Comoditized. Open Gateway is its commitment to capture part of the value that passes through its networks.
The challenge is to execute this vision in a usually slow sector when innovating. And above all, when displaying. APIS standardization through Camara Project (developed by GSMA and Linux Foundation) is a step in the right direction, but operators will have to demonstrate that they can move at the speed required by the industry.
No one knows if this strategy will translate into the long -awaited year for relevance in the digital ecosystem, but we do know that Telefónica is clearer than ever its position: It does not want to be the highway, but also who controls a part of the traffic.
Outstanding image | Xataka
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