LG Uplus, GSMA sign Open Gateway agreement

South Korea's LG Uplus Corp. said on Monday that it signed an agreement with the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) to participate in the Open Gateway initiative and pursue a monetization strategy by leveraging its network infrastructure.

Open Gateway is a major initiative by the GSMA aimed at monetizing telecommunications companies' network data by sharing standardized Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) with external developers.

APIs are tools that allow different software systems to communicate and share functionality. They provide the advantage of enabling developers to implement functions easily and simplify service integration.

Open Gateway aims to create an ecosystem of global telecommunications companies that can collaborate to develop new services more quickly.

Since announcing the Open Gateway initiative strategy at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) last year, the GSMA has promoted participation from global telecom companies.

So far, 60 telecom companies worldwide have signed agreements to open up APIs, and APIs for services like device location, identity verification, and payments have been distributed through a joint project with the Linux Foundation.

Global business expansion becomes feasible once a common API is secured among telecom companies through Open Gateway. Participation from Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern operators is especially active, and LG Uplus expects to increase opportunities for exporting services.

Last month, LG Uplus signed a joint research agreement with domestic mobile operators to develop a standard open API. It is also collaborating with Korea's Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) to establish domestic standards by the end of the year.

Write to Ju-Hyun Lee at deep@hankyung.com