Modelling the exposure of services within next generation telecommunication networks

Abstract

As mobile network operators come to terms with the inevitability of falling revenues from traditional revenue streams, many have begun exploring alternative revenue models. A prominent approach has been to encourage the development of revenue-generating services by exposing network resources to developers through an application programming interface (API). The objective is to use common Internet Protocol (IP) technologies such as web services that appeal to a wider developer audience. This movement is particularly important for developing countries due to the rapid proliferation of mobile broadband networks and the emerging entrepreneurial opportunities that exist within the mobile development space. Notably, what has been missing in this sector is a simple toolkit that developers can utilise to create prototypes. This paper presents a model for telecommunication service exposure and describes an implementation involving a mobile application, an application server and a protocol bridge that translates mobile requests to the internal telecommunication protocols.