Bridge Alliance and stc Group are celebrating 10 years of stc's membership and have pledged to strengthen their ongoing collaboration in Internet-of-Things (IoT), while extending their partnership to telco Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

At the LEAP global technology conference held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, both companies inked an agreement which will see Bridge Alliance and stc Group's operating companies in Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia push the boundaries of innovation and digital transformation in the MENA region and beyond, leveraging on their joint scale, combined expertise and market presence. The agreement takes effect in April 2025.

stc Group will be the first MENA region operator to be onboarded to the Bridge Alliance API Exchange (BAEx), joining 13 other operators which have already committed to the telco API exchange that Bridge Alliance launched in 2024 to aggregate telco APIs. BAEx will significantly reduce complexity and friction for stc Group and its enterprise customers in accessing APIs for innovation, supporting the development of new business opportunities and revenue streams in various markets.  This will be achieved through BAEx's unified integration, simplified commercial framework and common operational support model.

Meanwhile, for IoT cooperation, Bridge Alliance and its member operators will continue to collaborate with stc Group to strengthen their IoT business offerings and explore mutually beneficial business opportunities, such as connected car projects in the Middle East, which power smart functions on roads, remote operations of vehicles including security functions and pave the way for smart city infrastructure.

Dr Ong Geok Chwee, CEO of Bridge Alliance, said, "Since stc Group joined Bridge Alliance as a member operator in 2014, our collaboration has grown from strength to strength and both companies have expanded tremendously in our scope and expertise and emerged as leaders in our respective regions. We are delighted to deepen our partnership and scale new heights in seizing IoT business growth across our extensive global footprint, and jointly explore the abundant yet untapped potential in the brave new world of telco APIs."

Powered by Singtel's Paragon orchestration platform, BAEx offers customers a single integration and contract, which reduces the complexity of them working with multiple operators bilaterally. It builds on the GSMA's Open Gateway initiative and Project CAMARA, which are working on a framework of common network APIs to provide universal access to operator networks for developers.  Among these, BAEx is now offering Number Verification and SIM Swap. In January 2025, BAEx's Number Verification API received GSMA's Open Gateway Certification.