Promoting Interoperability and Data Sovereignty in Telecommunications: Integration of IDS Data Spaces with TM Forum Open APIs

Abstract Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are continuously looking forward for new business opportunities and provision of new services to their customers. The TM Forum Open APIs have been providing an open ecosystem for CSPs to standardize operations and promote interoperability. However, in complex multi-stakeholder scenarios like providing Business-to-Business (B2B) multi-site services, inter-Autonomous System cooperation, and roaming, different telecom stakeholders must collaborate and share resources to deliver services to their customers. The integration of TM Forum Open APIs with International Data Spaces (IDS) represents a critical advancement in telecommunications service management as information exchange is crucial for maintaining end-to-end service assurance and there is currently no solution that allows such cooperation in these contexts. This paper presents a novel integration approach that combines IDS data spaces with TM Forum Open APIs, leveraging the FIWARE Business API Ecosystem (BAE) and Eclipse Dataspace Components (EDC) as reference implementations. This work contributes to the telecommunications service management by presenting a practical framework that bridges interoperability and data sovereignty, addressing critical industry challenges related to secure data exchange and regulatory compliance, with potential applications across various digital service scenarios. The validation approach is comprehensive, evaluating the integrated solution across multiple dimensions. Key assessment criteria include maintaining interoperability, enforcing data sovereignty, preserving business ecosystem functionalities, and implementing precise access control mechanisms.