The interview with Robert Vis, founder and CEO of Bird, motivated me to write this post on the net negative contribution of some industry fora. I’ve run TADS for 11 years, delivered only events, TADSummit and TADHack, they are a chance for the industry to meet with no BS, and for developers to learn the latest in programmable communications.

Bird is part of  the ITU and GSMA, not the MEF. GSMA has its strengths, but should avoid the web stuff. OneAPI and Camara are examples of work the GSMA should avoid.  Let me explain.

GSMA and OneAPI

hSenid Mobile is the force behind ideamart, mspace, and BDapps. Ideamart was launched in 2013, they created a country-wide innovation ecosystem. Contributing 10-15% of carrier revenues through customer / developer created applications.

Why haven’t they deployed more broadly given this success? The answer is OneAPI, most carriers follow the GSMA party line, chose the GSMA recommended standard and failed. Many industry bodies, e.g. TMF (TeleManagement Forum) and brand name consultancies endorsed OneAPI without relevant expertise.

I’ve introduced hSenid Mobile to many carriers around the world, one example is in a large African country that is similar to Sri Lanka on a number of measures. The country has a vibrant developer ecosystem, we’ve run TADHacks there.

Politics blocked hSenid, because they were not OneAPI. The carriers’ attempts to innovate with OneAPI failed because it is not easy (no code), secure (rapid response to fraud), or adequately supported (multi-level country-wide engagement).

Camara is OneAPI 2.0. It continues to lack the keys to success that hSenid Mobile delivers. The continued success of ideamart, mspace, and BDapps has surprised and delighted everyone involved.  The evolution of these platforms using the data and insight available shows the potential for many more decades of success. Here is a TADSummit Innovators podcast with Dinesh Saparamadu, founder and CEO of hSenid Mobile.

Here is a specific example of the net negative contribution of an industry fora. GSMA OneAPI caused the majority of carriers to miss out on new revenues and position them for future growth with an engaged local developer community. It also gave me experience of being ignored by the establishment of the telecom industry, yet proven right. You’d think the GSMA would have learned from this.

Mobile Ecosystem Forum

Founded in 2000, with a board that includes some executives that endorsed the failed OneAPI, and ignored my advice over one decade ago. And continue to ignore my advice on Camara, and the mess going on in SMS at the moment. Here are some examples of MEF’s net negative contributions:

• Hit job on Rick Joyce by Eric Priezkalns of Commsrisk that is now funded by MEF. Eric accused Rick of a xenophobic dog whistle. I’ve followed Eric for many years and was surprised by his analysis. Rick has the highest security clearance, Eric does not. Also see Latham & Watkins FCC filing that appears cut from the same script as Eric’s claim of a xenophobic dog whistle. Bottom line, TCR does not work, my SMS spam folder proves that; and political messaging is under the control of a foreign entity.
• Victim blaming of Puja Amin for daring to stand up for herself. The behavior of some in our industry left me frankly disgusted. She was kicked off a panel as a partner at her law firm pointed out the silly Latham Watkins FCC filing. Some MEF members concern was not her being kicked of the panel, rather her protest looked fake. How the protest looked is irrelevant, Puja was kicked off a panel, and Dario Betti lied.
• The mess of AIT (Artificially Inflated Traffic) and fraud has brands walking away from SMS, while the fraudsters are part of the MEF. There are solutions to this situation, as I’ve published on The Definitive Truth in A2P SMS.
• Robert Gerstmann, chairman of MEF, telling members to ignore my work, with the accusation it’s a social media campaign. Check out the Messaging Monopolies, and The Definitive Truth in A2P SMS. It’s all based on facts that unfortunately relatively few people are aware of.
• Robert Vis shared, MEF tried to force membership as a requirement for carrier connections.

MEF’s 24 year history has made in self-focused. It is not acting for the benefit of mobile customers or carriers, rather its current paying sponsors.

CPaaSaa

CPaaSaa founder, Rob Kurver, is a serial crook. Kicked out of the CCA (Cloud Communications Alliance) for double invoicing expenses to CCA and its members. This comes directly from the CCA chairman. He cheated my friend Luis Borges and APIDays, see Skype chat below. Rob was taken to a Dutch court and ordered by the judge to pay money owed. After this experience with the Kurvers, Luis decided to move on from the industry, we lost a successful serial entrepreneur.

Rob’s mental issue is he believes he does not receive his fair share, and resorts to theft. I mentioned these facts to Kevin.

I had some organizations ask me to ‘move the furniture around in my mind’ about Camara. I explained there is no need for a QoS API as fixed and enterprise networks show provisioning works. Also an API requires an app with all the support issues. Given the limited market of P5G (Private 5G) the network API vendor will need to build the app. I advise the organizations to just build the app if they think there’s a need several years ago, and not use industry hype to bankrupt yet more developers.

When Vonage is spun as a success, let’s remember Vonage suffered a 7% year-on-year decline in revenues to SEK3.8bn ($361m). Back in Q1 2022 Vonage’s total revenue was $359M, almost the same. In 2020/2021/2022 programmable communications was growing at 30+%. It has been written down several times, by $4B. QoS network APIs are not yet deployed, developers are not requesting them, the spin (lying) must stop.

Net Negative Contribution

Some industry fora deliver net negative value as they are not held to account. GSMA pushed OneAPI that resulted in most carriers missing new innovation revenues, and creating a vibrant local innovation ecosystem. SMS is in decline as fraud goes unchecked. CPaaSaa was founded by a serial crook, who cheated my friend and the CCA. The industry does not look good at the moment, and the industry fora appear to be a source.