Telefónica and Nokia apply agentic AI to network APIs

• The partners are aiming to make it easier to expose and make use of network APIs
• They are putting the MCP and A2A protocols to work
• Automation is regarded as key to accelerating network API deployments

Telefónica and Nokia are exploring how agentic AI technology – in particular, the Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol and Model Context Protocol (MCP) – can be used to “streamline the process of exposing and consuming network APIs, making it easier for industry partners and developers to build and deliver new services efficiently,” the Spanish telco has announced. 

The collaboration “will help define how AI can transform the network to enable new monetisation models, and how the agent economy will be adopted in the coming years, paving the way toward a fully agentic monetisation ecosystem,” according to Telefónica. 

The collaboration is already underway, as the partners have tested a bank fraud prevention agent in a laboratory environment. They used an MCP server provided by Nokia’s Network Exposure Platform to expose network APIs and other resources that benefit bank fraud prevention apps, such as SIM Swap and Device Swap. Nokia’s Network as Code platform was then used to aggregate Telefónica’s capabilities for simplified exposure to a bank’s application developers in an A2A format.  

Telefónica noted that the companies have numerous other use-case examples that they will test together.

Cayetano Carbajo, director of core, transport and ecosystem at Telefónica’s CTIO office, stated: “Telefónica is committed to driving open innovation in network exposure and automation. By working with Nokia to pilot these advanced AI protocols, we are laying the groundwork for faster and more scalable adoption of network APIs. Being prepared to expose AI agents is key to continuing to monetise our capabilities. Our shared goal is to lower the barriers for partners and developers, enabling a new generation of services powered by programmable networks.”

Shkumbin Hamiti, head of network monetisation platform at Nokia, added: “Together with Telefónica, we’re proving how agentic AI can meaningfully accelerate the adoption of network APIs. By combining AI protocols with Nokia’s Network Exposure and Network as Code platforms, we enable secure, consistent access to network capabilities and let AI agents coordinate complex workflows, end to end. The result is an actionable, developer‑friendly experience that moves our industry one step closer to an agent‑driven monetisation ecosystem.”

The combination of agentic AI and APIs was explored in the recently published and free-to-download Unthinkable Lab Report: Accelerating Telco APIs with Agentic AI.

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV