Ericsson CEO Says He’s the First to Tap a $20 Billion API Market

Ericsson AB and Deutsche Telekom AG announced a partnership to offer communication and network APIs to developers and enterprises, in what the Swedish company called a milestone in its goal to help operators make money from network investments.

(Bloomberg) — Ericsson AB and Deutsche Telekom AG announced a partnership to offer communication and network APIs to developers and enterprises, in what the Swedish company called a milestone in its goal to help operators make money from network investments. 

The deal will let Deutsche Telekom offer a portal for APIs, which are programs that allow different applications or systems to communicate, from Vonage, Ericsson said in a statement on Wednesday.

“This is a $20 billion market,” Ericsson Chief Executive Officer Borje Ekholm said in an interview about the commercialization of network APIs, referring to a forecast from consultancy and research firm STL Partners.

Ekholm is under pressure to justify his company’s $6.2 billion acquisition of Vonage in 2022, with the managing partner of activist investor Cevian Capital, Lars Forberg, saying in an interview last month that the deal “added nothing” from a strategic or financial perspective.

“Which operator does he work for?” Ekholm said of Forberg, whose firm is one of Ericsson’s largest shareholders. “It’s always hard when you do something that nobody has done before. We are focused on creating this market.”

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