Operator revenue from authentication and fraud prevention network APIs will grow from $252-million in 2025 to $4,9-billion in 2030, according to a new study by Juniper Research.
“Fraud prevention APIs provide the greatest opportunity in the short term; accounting for approximately 90% of network API revenue in 2025,” says Alex Webb, senior research analyst at Juniper Research.
While fraud prevention represents the most immediate opportunity, Juniper Research believes network APIs have extensive monetisation potential in the cellular IoT market. Network APIs provide enterprises with greater control and insight into the network, connectivity, and status of their IoT devices.
“Operators must monetise demand for location verification and retrieval APIs in asset and vehicle tracking use cases to broaden network API monetization,” says Webb. “As enterprises will not replace existing services such as the navigation satellite system, operators must frame their APIs as supplementary data that increases accuracy and reliability of IoT location data.”
However, to fully capitalise on the IoT opportunity, operators must invest in emerging network API categories that provide control over the network conditions and quality of connections, such as communications quality.
Building a broad suite of network API services will attract a diverse range of enterprises and enable creation of more comprehensive applications. For example, connectivity management platforms can integrate location services and communications quality APIs to enhance capabilities for enterprises managing their IoT devices and connectivity.