Aduna: Building the Global Marketplace for Network APIs — and how Amartus can help

The telecom industry has long promised to become a platform—exposing network capabilities through APIs that developers can use as easily as cloud services. We’ve seen impressive progress on the technical foundations: GSMA’s Open Gateway and the CAMARA project are defining standardized APIs, while TM Forum provides operational frameworks for monetization and onboarding. But standards alone don’t create markets. What’s been missing is the commercial layer—a global marketplace that makes these APIs discoverable, accessible, and simple to consume across multiple operators. This is the gap that Aduna, a joint venture backed by Ericsson and twelve of the world’s largest operators, is designed to fill.

In our previous article, Exploring the Technical and Business Impact of GSMA’s Open Gateway and Linux Foundation’s CAMARA Project on Telco Services, we examined how these initiatives are shaping the technical foundations for network API interoperability. Now we turn our attention to the commercial engine that can bring these standards to market at scale. This is exactly what Aduna aims to deliver. It positions itself as the platform that could finally transform network APIs from a fragmented patchwork into a scalable, global reality.

In this article, we’ll explore what Aduna is building, how it fits into the broader standardization landscape, and where Amartus can add value in making this vision operationally viable.

The problem: technical standards meet commercial fragmentation

Open Gateway and CAMARA have addressed much of the technical fragmentation in telco APIs—defining standardized interfaces for capabilities like SIM swap detection, number verification, and device location. But technical interoperability is only half the battle. For years, operators have offered their own APIs, each with different specifications, onboarding processes, and commercial models. For developers and enterprises, this has meant high integration costs, slow time to market, and limited reach.

Aduna’s mission is to solve this commercial fragmentation by aggregating APIs from multiple operators into a single, standardized platform. The value proposition is straightforward: developers should be able to access network capabilities through one global marketplace, without having to negotiate and integrate with each operator individually. While standardization bodies like TM Forum and Mplify (formerly MEF) have addressed technical fragmentation in fixed and mobile networks, Aduna focuses specifically on creating a unified commercial layer for the wireless segment.

Who is behind Aduna and how it aligns with industry standards

The scale of the initiative is significant. Aduna is a joint venture between Ericsson and twelve of the world’s largest operators, including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, Verizon, and Vodafone. Since its launch, the ecosystem has expanded to include additional CSPs, hyperscalers like Microsoft and Google Cloud, CPaaS providers, and global system integrators. This breadth of participation positions Aduna as the de facto hub for network APIs, with the potential to finally deliver on the promise of telco‑as‑a‑platform.

Aduna is not building in isolation. It is tightly aligned with TM Forum’s Open API program and the GSMA’s Open Gateway certification framework. CAMARA defines the Operate APIs (TMF 931), TM Forum provides the operational APIs for onboarding and monetization, and the joint certification program ensures interoperability across both. Aduna is already demonstrating how this alignment can streamline developer onboarding and API ordering, turning standards into something operational and commercially viable.

What if… we add Mplify to the equation? Challenges ahead

How could Mplify LSO APIs fit into this picture? Mplify APIs are already widely adopted for inter-provider service orchestration, while Mplify provides a proven framework for intent-based service automation across multi-operator environments. There is a natural complementarity here. Aduna focuses on the developer-facing marketplace, but behind the scenes, operators still need to coordinate ordering, assurance, and settlement of API‑enabled services. This is where Mplify APIs can provide the B2B automation layer that ensures the plumbing works seamlessly across operators. If Aduna also incorporated Mplify APIs, that would speed up the commercial onboarding also for the Service Provider to Service Provider market.

Of course, the road ahead is not without challenges. Operators must align on the consistent implementation of CAMARA APIs, and commercial models for revenue sharing need to be defined. Developers must be convinced that telco APIs can be as easy to consume as cloud APIs. Integration with existing BSS/OSS systems adds another layer of complexity, and sensitive APIs such as SIM swap demand robust governance and security.

How Amartus can help

The above-mentioned challenges are precisely where Amartus can add value. With our expertise in API mediation, orchestration, and conformance, especially in Mplify and TM Forum ecosystems, we could add value.

Transformation layer design and orchestration

Because CAMARA does not harmonize transformation functions, operators need robust mediation and policy logic to translate high-level API calls into network actions. Amartus can provide reference implementations and integration frameworks that map CAMARA API calls to internal interfaces, handle consent verification, and enforce service-level policies. This mirrors our existing expertise in Mplify and TM Forum orchestration.

Cross-domain API aggregation

By aligning Mplify LSO APIs with TM Forum Operate APIs and exposing them via Aduna, Amartus could enable unified ordering and assurance of mobile and fixed services. For example, when a developer orders a network slice with guaranteed throughput via Aduna, our orchestration could trigger underlying Carrier Ethernet or IP service provisioning through LSO APIs.

Marketplace onboarding and dynamic pricing

Amartus can contribute to solutions for dynamic pricing and quality‑on‑demand that are accessible via Aduna. Integrating our NaaS service orchestration with Aduna’s marketplace would allow enterprises to order differentiated connectivity with real-time price adjustments.

Standardization and certification support

As a member of Mplify and TM Forum, Amartus can assist customers in achieving unified conformance certification across CAMARA Service APIs and Operate APIs. Our expertise can help ensure that operator implementations comply with both mobile and fixed-line API standards, accelerating their onboarding into Aduna.

Key takeaways

In summary, Aduna is the commercial engine that could finally make network APIs a global reality. It brings together operators, vendors, and developers under a single umbrella, aligned with GSMA and TM Forum standards. For Amartus, the opportunity is clear: help make this vision operationally viable by helping customers integrate with Aduna and work with SDOs to broaden its scope to other markets.