Open Gateway at MWC26: real-world solutions for industry

Once again, Telefónica Open Gateway had a prominent spot at MWC Barcelona 2026, showing how Network APIs have gone from being a technological promise to become real solutions that are already making an impact in various industries.

During the session "From network capabilities to real industry solutions", David del Val, Portfolio Acceleration Director at Telefónica, brought on stage technology companies, financial institutions and digital platforms that are already using the capabilities of Open Gateway to improve their services.

The session was attended by Anthony Bartolo (Aduna), Beatriz Sánchez Gordo (Bankinter), Bruno Cezaretto (Itaú Unibanco), Getulio Cardoso Santos (ZapSign), Christiaan Brand (Google) and Javier Pascual (Telefónica). They all shared the same message: network APIs are already generating tangible value for businesses and are being integrated into services used by millions of users.

Since its launch at MWC 2023, Open Gateway has rapidly evolved into one of the telecommunications industry's most ambitious projects to open up network capabilities to the digital ecosystem.

The keynote shared some of the indicators reflecting this evolution. The initiative already has more than 20 partners and more than 60 active customers, while the commercial pipeline exceeds 300 opportunities under development. This confirms that network solutions are becoming part of the digital strategy of more and more companies.

On a global scale, the impetus also comes from Aduna, the platform created by carriers to accelerate the adoption of these capabilities internationally. The goal is to build an environment where developers and companies can easily tap into network APIs and deploy their services in a wide range of markets.

The best way to understand the impact of Open Gateway is by looking at the use cases already in production. During the session, several companies shared how they are employing these capabilities to boost key processes such as security, digital identity or trust in online interactions.

One of the most prominent examples has come from Brazil. Itaú Unibanco, one of the largest banks in Latin America, explained how it has integrated signals from the mobile network into its security and identity verification systems.

The scale of deployment reflects the potential of these capabilities. In just six months, the bank has performed more than three million identity KYC validations through the use of network signals. At the same time, the system processes over five million SIM swap verifications every month, critical information for detecting possible fraud attempts associated with SIM swapping.

For the bank, this translates into a significant improvement in its ability to detect suspicious behaviour and strengthen its customer protection without adding friction to the digital experience.

Bankinter shared its experience incorporating network signals as part of its fraud prevention mechanisms in Spain.

According to Beatriz Sánchez Gordo, the bank’s IT Fraud and Risk Director, information on recent changes in the user's SIM has been integrated as an additional factor within the risk scoring systems. This allows certain financing operations to be more accurately assessed prior to authorisation.

The result is a more sophisticated approach to securing digital transactions. While traditional systems rely on verifying that a user owns the device, network signals provide an additional layer of context that helps identify potentially fraudulent behaviour in real time.

Another example presented during the session came from ZapSign, a platform specialising in electronic signatures.

CEO Getulio Cardoso Santos explained how his company has built network data-based identity verification into its digital signature processes to strengthen the validity of contracts signed online.

This additional layer of verification allows each signature to be associated with the user's identity linked to their mobile number, increasing the level of trust in the process. For companies managing large-scale digital contracts, this is a major improvement in terms of traceability, compliance and fraud prevention.

One of the most relevant announcements of the session was the collaboration with Google to integrate identity verification capabilities within its Firebase ecosystem.

Firebase is one of the world’s most widely used development platforms and is found in millions of mobile applications. According to Christiaan Brand, Product Manager for Identity and Security at Google, the integration of verified network signals will allow developers to easily incorporate new levels of security into their applications.

This opens the door for millions of developers to use network capabilities to improve authentication and reduce fraud in their applications, greatly expanding the reach of Network APIs in the global digital ecosystem.

During the session there was also room to show how these capabilities can be applied beyond digital identity.

Javier Pascual, Product Pre-Sales and Provision Director at Telefónica, presented Titán Connect, a new premium connectivity service developed by Telefónica Empresas. The aim of this solution is to offer advanced levels of guaranteed connectivity for enterprise environments where network quality is critical.

One of the key elements of the service is the use of the Quality on Demand API, which allows network conditions to be dynamically adjusted according to the needs of the service. This paves the way for new possibilities in sectors such as industry, logistics or remote operations, where applications such as sensors, drones or cameras require stable, reliable connectivity to function properly.

In this context, network solutions can transform traditional connectivity into an adaptable and programmable service, capable of meeting the specific needs of each application.

To close the session, David del Val shared a reflection on the role that Network APIs will play in the next generation of digital services driven by artificial intelligence agents.

In a scenario where AI-based systems will be able to make autonomous decisions and coordinate multiple digital services, signals from the network will become a fundamental source of context.

Information on identity, fraud or connectivity conditions may be used by these agents to assess risks, activate security measures or adapt service conduct in real time.

This new paradigm underscores the central idea that marked the whole session: networks are no longer just connectivity infrastructures, but intelligent platforms capable of bringing direct value to digital applications and services.

The session made it clear that the leap from "network capabilities" to "real industry solutions" is already underway.

From banking fraud prevention to digital signatures, online identity to advanced business connectivity, more and more companies are incorporating network capabilities into their products and services.

With the growth of the Open Gateway ecosystem and the global momentum of platforms such as Aduna, network solutions are establishing themselves as a new layer of innovation for the digital economy, enabling businesses to create more secure, smarter and better connected services.