India's largest service provider, Reliance Jio, has yet to join the GSMA's Open Gateway initiative. Its arch-rival, Bharti Airtel, the country's second-largest service provider, has emerged as the only Indian telco that is part of the initiative.

"I have had recent discussions with them [Reliance Jio] and they have vibrant portfolios and they recognize the value [of joining Open Gateway]. I think, in moving toward a global standard and finding value, of course, there are local priorities versus global priorities," said Julian Gorman, head of APAC for GSMA.

"I am looking forward to India becoming a big part of the global API portfolio set because there is a lot of innovation happening here to address the Indian market circumstances. In the coming years, the markets will want to look at use cases here and innovations happening in this market, because it may be more transferable to the economic situations of other like markets," added Gorman.

GSMA's Open Gateway is a "framework of common network APIs [Application Programmable Interfaces] designed to provide universal access to operator networks for developers." It is designed to help developers and cloud providers improve and deploy services rapidly across operator networks via single points of access. Over 50 service providers, including AT&T, Orange, KT, Axiata, Telefonica, Telenor, Verizon and Vodafone, among others, have joined since its launch last year.

"APIs are also expected to grow into making the power of the 5G network available to the innovation ecosystem. And we believe those APIs are really what's going to set a new landscape for innovation. So, it's important that they [big players] do come together. China, at the moment, is about a third of the APIs that we see in the Open Gateway API portfolio. I think India has the potential to also create that influence and participation in that portfolio," Gorman elaborated.

A service provider might not join an initiative like Open Gateway for fear of losing its secret sauce. Jio has been making significant investments in research and development and has around 350 patents in 5G and 6G. It is also the only Indian service provider that has developed its own technology stack, which it plans to sell in the global market. Jio is a member of Linux Foundation. 

"Among the reasons for this reluctance [to make APIs available for developers to use commercially] are operators' wariness of investing in a fledgling market and uncertainty about the business model. Additionally, operators with superior networks may fear that their competitive advantage could be eroded, since the lowest performers in each market will likely end up setting the standard for key features such as speed and latency," according to a McKinsey report.

India to emerge as a global telecom superpower by 2030?

Gorman believes that, concurrent with India's rise as an economic power, the country will also emerge as a global telecom superpower by 2030.

"By the end of this decade, India is going to be one of the top three global economies and in the last couple of years, it has taken bold steps to modernize the regulation framework and commit to being a global leader. We will see India not only playing a greater role in the setting of standards but also in creating innovation in the sector. They have made a commitment to how telecoms is almost going to define India's future. And I think that plays a great role not only in India's large market but also in [enhancing] export and influence in the world," Gorman said.

"Alongside China and America, India will be up there as a global pole of where you look for how to take your digital economy forward," he added.