The GSMA has reached an agreement to integrate the major programs and initiatives driven by the dissolving Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) into the GSMA.
As part of the agreement, API developer Apigee has also acquired the technology assets of WAC. Apigee will continue to develop and evolve the WAC Web Run Time and network APIs and will provide these assets as a managed service to the GSMA and its mobile operator members.
The Wholesale Applications Community was a carrier alliance once tasked with developing common APIs to help attract developers onto operators' app stores. But its success was limited by the fact that standardization work did not extend to a common distribution framework.
To attempt to resolve this, WAC in February launched its Payment API, an operator billing service that enables customers to pay for digital goods via their operator bill. The WAC Payment API has launched or is in trial with operators including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, KT, LGU+, SK Telecom, Smart Communications, Telefónica and Telenor, and is in development with a further 12 operators.
The WAC Web Run Time has been enabled on approximately 12 million devices to date and deployed by operators including KT, LGU+, SK Telecom and Smart Communications.