Mobile networks have spent decades building infrastructure that allows us to communicate.
But something else has been happening.
The network knows things that other organisations need to verify.
Who controls a phone number?
Has a SIM recently changed?
Is a number active?
Is this the device normally associated with the customer, particularly for a sensitive transaction?
Was this device recently present near a particular location?
Does customer information match information held by the operator?
Is a device relationship consistent with what the network knows?
Today, organisations often solve these problems independently.
The bank checks.
The insurer checks.
The merchant checks.
The government service checks.
Each builds its own process around information that may already be authoritative somewhere else. They may share portions of the information, increasing both exposure and risk.
This is where the work being done through the GSMA Open Gateway becomes interesting.
Network APIs are beginning to make capabilities of mobile networks available to other organisations in a standardised way.
Number Verification.
SIM Swap.
KYC Match.
Device information.
Location Verification.
These are often described as APIs.
But I think there is a bigger idea underneath them.
They are mechanisms for moving trusted outcomes between organisations.
The MNO doesn't necessarily need to disclose everything it knows.
In fact, it shouldn't.
It can answer a specific question within the area where it is authoritative.
That distinction matters.
The underlying data can remain with the organisation that has the legitimate relationship and authority to hold it.
The trust outcome can be consumed by another organisation.
A bank doesn't necessarily need a copy of the MNO's customer database or government records.
It may simply need to know whether the person requesting a transaction controls the number associated with the account.
An insurer doesn't necessarily need access to the underlying network information.
It may need a trusted answer to a specific question.
This is where I think the opportunity becomes much bigger than API monetisation.
MNOs could become important Trust Authorities in the digital economy.
Not because they should know everything.
Quite the opposite.
Their strength comes from being authoritative about specific things they already know.
GSMA Open Gateway may therefore be more than a way of exposing network capabilities.
It could become part of the foundations for a broader Trust Infrastructure.
The next question is what happens when these trusted outcomes can be reused across industries, under appropriate governance, without repeatedly exposing the underlying data.
That could change the role of the mobile network.
From connecting people and businesses...
to helping them trust each other.
Trust precedes transaction.