Nokia and Ericsson Named Leaders in ABI Research’s Network API Platforms for Internal Exposure Ranking

Global technology intelligence firm ABI Research has named Nokia and Ericsson as Leaders in its Network API Platforms for Internal Exposure competitive ranking, reflecting their strength in enabling mobile network operators to make APIs available internally for network management and orchestration, BSS/OSS functions, and specialized telco applications.

“The market for internal network API exposure is moving from experimentation toward more operationally critical and commercially relevant deployments,” said Larbi Belkhit, Senior Analyst at ABI Research. “Vendors that can combine standards alignment, multi-vendor interoperability, monetization support, and security capabilities are establishing an early leadership advantage as operators look to simplify integration and unlock new service value without having to develop their own proprietary exposure platform.”

Nokia’s first-place finish was driven by its leadership in both innovation and implementation. ABI Research highlighted Nokia’s multi-vendor Network Exposure Platform, support for 3GPP NEF/SCEF and CAMARA APIs, strong security controls, and growing commercial momentum with 25 CSPs, including five customers going commercially live in 2026. Ericsson ranked second, supported by its Vonage business, broad exposure portfolio, support for standardized and custom APIs, more than 100 CSP deployments globally, and a developer ecosystem exceeding 1.7 million registered developers‌.

“The broader market continues to gain momentum as 5G SA commercialization begins to accelerate and operators are working to better expose their network functions to enable new services and efficiency improvements,” Larbi said. “At the same time, operators still face fragmentation, pricing and regulatory diversity, inconsistent latency and reliability, and limited access to advanced network features, all of which continue to slow broader market expansion for network APIs despite strong enterprise demand for real-time applications‌.”

These findings are from ABI Research’s Network API Platforms for Internal Exposure competitive ranking. This report is part of the company’s Telco AI research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights.