Airtel & Nokia Deal Opens Network APIs for New Developer Revenue

Bharti Airtel and Nokia’s latest collaboration marks a pivotal development for India’s fast-scaling digital and 5G innovation ecosystem. The Finnish telecom major has joined hands with Airtel to open network capabilities to third-party developers, creating a new wave of monetizable, network-driven applications for enterprises and solution builders in the country.

After successful trials, Airtel’s network APIs will now be accessible on a subscription basis to developers, system integrators and enterprises through Nokia’s Network as Code platform. This positions the telecom operator to tap rising demand for advanced use cases built on 5G, AI, automation, and edge computing.

Airtel Business CEO Sharat Sinha said, "We are happy to partner with Nokia today for network APIs and enable the ecosystem to leverage our network capabilities for automation and building secure and innovative digital services."

Also Read: P&L Management: How to Drive Profitability While Expanding

The move strengthens India’s innovation stack by enabling developers to build advanced, real-time solutions using the operator’s pan-India network assets. According to Nokia, "This strategic partnership will provide developers and enterprises alike access to Airtel's extensive pan-India network assets, creating new monetization opportunities and innovative use cases that will span multiple industry verticals."

Network APIs have become critical for telecom operators globally as they virtualize network layers and expose capabilities that enterprises can integrate into digital services.

Also Read: Airtel and Google Announce $15B AI Hub in Visakhapatnam

Nokia’s Head of Cloud and Network Services for India, Arvind Khurana, highlighted the larger intent behind the partnership, stating, "Our partnership with Airtel represents a significant step in expanding the Network as Code ecosystem. It demonstrates our commitment to helping telecommunications providers monetize their network investments while fostering innovation in the developer community."

Nokia said its global Network as code ecosystem now includes more than 60 partners across telecom, AI, cloud, CPaaS and enterprise software domains.