Why It Matters
If telcos successfully productize their APIs for agentic AI, they can unlock new high‑margin services and stay relevant in a rapidly automating digital ecosystem.
Key Takeaways
- •Agentic AI, MCP, and telco APIs remain early-stage technologies.
- •Overpromising could erode credibility without proven real-world deployments.
- •Open Gateway APIs lack global availability, limiting immediate adoption.
- •Productization of APIs into outcome‑driven solutions is essential.
- •Security, latency, and AI drift are critical hurdles to address.
Summary
The Unthinkable Lab in London gathered telcos, vendors, developers and regulators to debate whether agentic AI could become the primary driver of telco API demand. Hosted by Telecom TV’s Guy Daniels, the session produced a post‑event report that explores the promise and practical hurdles of marrying agentic AI, multi‑access edge computing (MCP) and open‑gateway APIs.
Panelists agreed that all three technologies are still in early‑stage development. Andrew Cullinsson warned of a “big gap between the promise of tomorrow and the reality of today,” noting only a handful of proof‑of‑concepts exist. Dean Bubbley highlighted limited global rollout of open‑gateway APIs and the immaturity of MCP security and reliability, while Raman emphasized that customers now seek outcomes, not raw APIs.
A memorable analogy came from Andrew, who likened APIs to guitar strings—useful only when assembled into a recognizable product. Raman cited the GSMA Fusion initiative, which pushes operators to define solution‑level requirements before commercializing APIs. The discussion also surfaced concerns about latency, AI model drift and the need for robust guardrails.
The consensus is that telcos must move from exposing raw interfaces to delivering packaged, outcome‑driven solutions such as fraud‑signal or KYC products. Standardization bodies, operators and channel partners will need to address security, scalability and cross‑market availability if agentic AI is to generate sustainable API revenue streams.
Original Description
Agentic Al, with the support of MCP and other protocols, can become a significant driver of telco API demand in the next five years. At the fourth Unthinkable Lab, held in London in January, a multi-stakeholder group of 30+ telecoms operators, technology companies, channel partners, regulators and analysts spent a day examining whether agentic AI could become the biggest driver of telco API demand and what the industry must do to make that happen. In this panel, the Lab's hosts Dean Bubley and Andrew Collinson are joined by Raman Mistry of GSMA Open Gateway, to discuss the findings: from the gap between vision and reality, to the security risks of MCP, the need for "productisation" over raw API exposure, the role of channel partners and aggregators, and whether the telecoms industry can move fast enough to remain relevant in an AI-driven economy.
Featuring:
Andrew Collinson, Founder & Principal, Connective Insight
Dean Bubley, Founder and Director, Disruptive Analysis
Raman Mistry, Channel Partner Engagement Lead, GSMA Open Gateway
#telecomtv #unthinkable #api #agenticai #gsma
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