Tuesday 29 September, 2026
New GSMA members include leading exponents of AI and APIs, a developer of digital wallets, a network operator and a specialist in the circular economy
Major players in the global IT sector are increasingly joining the GSMA, underlining the increasing convergence between the telecoms and tech sectors. One high profile new member is Red Hat, which is part of IBM. Based in North Carolina, Red Hat describes itself as the world’s leading provider of open source enterprise IT solutions, taking a “community-driven approach’ to deliver reliable Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies.
“Red Hat joined the GSMA to drive open source innovation across the global telecommunications ecosystem,” says Fran Heeran, vice president and head of global telecommunications business at Red Hat. “Collaborating with service providers and vendors across the industry ecosystem, Red Hat helps shape technical standards for cloud-native mobile networks, edge computing, accelerate AI adoption and network monetisation. This vital collaboration enables GSMA members and Red Hat to advance open source software interoperability and expand co-innovation across the mobile networks industry.”
Helping telcos effectively harness AI is also a high priority for another new member this month. New Jersey-based Provenir has built a decision intelligence platform that consolidates data, AI models, and decisioning agents into a single, governed environment. Provenir says its platform enables frictionless call centre, in-store, and online experiences, with dynamic decisioning and robust analytics for accurate decision making across the entire subscriber lifecycle.
“We’re delighted to join GSMA and become part of a community that brings together deep expertise from across the telecommunications industry,” says Mark Jackson, Global Director, Telco at Provenir. “We look forward to benefiting from the insights and experience of fellow members to help shape our product development, while also contributing our own knowledge and perspectives back to the industry.”
Delivering innovation in emerging markets
As well as attracting leading tech companies, the GSMA continues to recruit network operators, particularly in emerging markets. Viettel Timor (Telemor), which is a leading operator in Timor-Leste, has just joined the GSMA. Founded in 2012, Telemor says its networks cover 96% of the population of Timor-Leste, has launched 5G and is expanding fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) internet to more households.
“Telemor seeks GSMA membership to strengthen international cooperation, expand roaming partnerships, and access industry standards, technical resources, and best practices,” says Elias Amaral, Vice-Manager of Product Policy Department of Telemor. “Through this membership, Telemor aims to improve service quality, support technological innovation, and contribute to industry discussions, while advancing digital connectivity and delivering better telecommunications services to customers in Timor-Leste and abroad.”
As well as providing connectivity, Telemor has launched a digital wallet, called Mosan, which serves 250,000 monthly active users, Timor TV, which has 100,000 monthly active users, and Kakoak, a social entertainment platform with 90,000 monthly active users.
Another new GSMA member specialises in the provision mobile money services in emerging markets. Sorted, a Hong Kong-based startup, says its digital wallet is built for both feature phones and smartphones, giving people across emerging markets access to “digital dollars” without a bank account. Focused on financial inclusion across Africa and South Asia, Sorted says it connects underserved users to practical, everyday financial tools.
“We joined GSMA because our wallet sits at the intersection of mobile technology and financial access,” notes Stephen Browne, CEO of Sorted. “We reach users through feature phones and affordable devices in markets where mobile connectivity is often the first step toward financial inclusion. GSMA brings us closer to the stakeholders who share our goal of serving these underserved communities.”
Harnessing standardised APIs
Among the other start-ups joining the GSMA is Gated Networks, a Florida-based provider of API services that facilitate the exchange of vetted and verified caller identity information between originating and terminating service providers. Working within a broad ecosystem, Gated Networks is looking to restore identity and trust to global communications.
“The GSMA is providing the leadership necessary to restore trusted identity in communications,” adds Douglas Ranalli, CEO of Gated Networks. “Gated joined the GSMA to participate in, and to support, the efforts of the new Open Verifiable Communications (OVC) working group and to help the community to achieve fast adoption of the OVC vetted identity standards.”
TELCONODE Technologies, a Dubai-based startup, is also building on the GSMA’s foundational work on APIs. It is developing NeuralGate, an AI-native brokerage platform that translates GSMA Open Gateway network capabilities (which use the CAMARA specifications) into consent-governed skills that autonomous AI agents discover and call via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). With consent and governance built in, NeuralGate says it enables secure, silent identity verification across operators.
“We joined the GSMA because Open Gateway and CAMARA have solved the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of network APIs; the next challenge is adoption,” explains Kedarnath Gupte, Founder and CEO of TELCONODE Technologies. “NeuralGate translates these certified APIs into consent-governed skills that AI agents can discover and execute autonomously through MCP. Membership lets us align with GSMA standards, pursue Open Gateway certification, and help operators monetise the agentic economy”
Reducing waste through device recovery
The development of the circular economy is also a high priority for the GSMA and its members. One of the new members, Alchemy designs and operates “best-in-class” trade-in, recovery, refurbishment and resale programmes for leading technology brands, telcos and retailers. Since it was founded in Dublin in 2017, Alchemy has recovered more than 14 million devices and generated more than US$1 billion in “remarketed device revenue” in 2025.
“Joining the GSMA puts us alongside the operators, brands and retailers shaping the future of mobile, and gives us a platform to show how circularity delivers real commercial value across the ecosystem,” says John Doughty, SVP Global Partnerships at Alchemy. “Every device kept in use for longer is value reclaimed and waste avoided. We look forward to working with GSMA members and the wider community to scale trade-in and recovery, and to help make a more sustainable mobile industry the commercial default.”
Interested in Membership?
As a member of the GSMA, you will join a vibrant community of industry leaders, experts, and visionaries who are shaping the future of mobile technology and its transformative impact on societies worldwide. Find out more about membership here.
