• Network API updates from the UK’s telcos, Aduna and Infobip
• UK broadband altnets grow their customer bases
• TalkTalk signs up bankers to broker a sale

In today’s industry news roundup: UK telcos collaborate on network API launches; UK fibre broadband altnets Toob and Netomnia have been adding customers; TalkTalk edges closer to a sale; and more!

The UK’s mobile operators – BT, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) and VodafoneThree  – have jointly launched new network APIs that will help online platforms verify customer ages and combat digital fraud: The ‘Age Verify’ and ‘Know Your Customer (KYC) Tenure’ APIs are available now for developers, while a KYC Match API will follow before the end of the year. The launches address “two pressing challenges in the UK digital landscape: The need for robust age verification following new legal safeguarding laws and the escalating threat of online fraud,” noted the GSMA. “Delivered through the GSMA Open Gateway initiative, Camara-standardised APIs will give developers simple, secure tools to protect consumers and comply with new UK safety laws,” added the industry body. Henry Calvert, head of networks at the GSMA, stated: “Age assurance is just one area where the smart use of mobile networks can support online entertainment and commerce sites, and safeguard consumers. By giving developers easier, secure access to the rich network functionality of mobile networks, we can also use network intelligence in the fight against fraud and scams. We’ve already seen the results UK mobile operators and banks have achieved through Scam Signal and look forward to building on these foundations.” There’s much more about the APIs and commentary about the launches in this announcement. What’s important to note here is that the UK operators have collaborated on the timing and launch of the APIs, which means that any application developed using these APIs can be used on all networks and achieve nationwide reach.  

Network API aggregator Aduna, meanwhile, is to “explore opportunities” with mobile-first onboarding experience API specialist Prelude, which is “trusted by more than 40 high-growth companies, including BeReal, Feels, Bitstack and Locket, and has already enabled tens of millions of successful phone verifications,” according to Aduna. The two organisations will work on the potential of integrating SIM Swap and Number Verification APIs into Prelude’s platform, starting in European markets. This would complement Prelude’s existing portfolio of KYC, session management, contextualised fraud prevention, Silent Network Authentication (SNA), and multi-channel OTP delivery. Read more. 

Infobip, a major communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) platform operator that enables developers to integrate real-time communication features and network APIs into their applications, has received two new network API certifications from the GSMA as part of the Camara project. “The SIM Swap and Number Verification certifications demonstrate Infobip’s commitment to advancing global standards for network APIs through the GSMA Open Gateway initiative,” noted Infobip in this announcement.  

Ahead of this week’s Connected Britain event in London, there’s plenty of action in the UK fixed broadband sector. Toob, one of the many fibre broadband altnets still hoping to survive the current market consolidation efforts by the bigger players, such as CityFibre, has announced that it now has 100,000 customers, which doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s more than most of the UK’s altnets. Toob has been building its own access network as well as marketing broadband services through a wholesale agreement with the aforementioned CityFibre, and now operates across 28 counties and 89 towns and cities throughout England, serving over 60,000 customers on its own network and more than 40,000 through its CityFibre partnership. For more details, see this press release.

One of the more successful UK altnets, Netomnia, which recently agreed £300m in debt funding, says it now has more than 400,000 connected customers. That detail was included in the company’s unveiling of its new brand identity, which aims to strengthen the company’s positioning as “a fibre network built for whatever comes next”.  You can see the operator’s new logo on its website and at the Connected Britain event, for those that can handle a trip to the Excel centre in east London.   

Struggling UK ISP TalkTalk is looking for a buyer, with Sky News reporting that the TalkTalk Group, the parent company of the ISP and its sister wholesale operation PlatformX, has signed up investment bank PJT Partners to “handle a strategic review aimed at assessing the optimal timing for a disposal of TalkTalk’s remaining businesses”. TalkTalk has 3.2 million broadband customers, so is an asset that would add scale to any of the UK’s other broadband service providers, though of course UK regulator Ofcom and the competition watchdog will be keeping a close eye on any potential transactions. 

– The staff, TelecomTV