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BLOG | Empowering Digital Economies Through Standardised, Scalable Frameworks and TMF Open APIs

June 10, 2026

A surge in demand for high-speed connectivity, open access networks, and digitally orchestrated wholesale services is reshaping the communications landscape. Governments, regulators, and industry players are accelerating efforts to bridge the digital divide, drive infrastructure investment, and improve market competition — all of which require a standardised, efficient, and composable wholesale broadband ecosystem. Key industry drivers behind this transformation include: 

  • National broadband rollouts and open access regulation – Governments worldwide are mandating open, equitable broadband access for all. This requires robust wholesale frameworks that enable multiple service providers to leverage shared infrastructure, fostering innovation and competition while avoiding duplication.
  • Fiber-to-the-X (FTTx) scale and operational complexity – As fiber networks scale to cover millions of premises, traditional B2B processes struggle to keep up. CSPs and infrastructure companies require a standardised product and service model to enable efficient integration, faster onboarding, and cost-effective delivery of wholesale broadband services.
  • Demand for digital-first experiences – Wholesale customers increasingly expect self-service ordering, near real-time provisioning, and proactive service assurance. This can only be achieved by transforming legacy processes into API-enabled, catalog-driven journeys across the full service lifecycle.
  • Service portability, dynamic SLAs, and cross-operator orchestration – In a multi-provider environment, the ability to coordinate service availability, quality, and resolution dynamically across network boundaries is essential. Wholesale broadband providers need to support programmable infrastructure and intent-based interactions to meet evolving enterprise demands.
  • Infrastructure investment and sustainability pressures – As broadband deployments increase, operators need mechanisms to ensure optimal utilization of infrastructure investments and sustainable operations. Shared access, transparent performance management, and service bundling at the wholesale layer will be key to meeting these goals.

Vision

TM Forum’s Wholesale Broadband Project is building a global foundation for standardised wholesale service delivery. By defining a universal wholesale broadband product model, a suite of Open APIs, and a Composable Service and Catalog architecture, the project supports faster market entry, operational scalability, and automated B2B2X interactions between access providers, retail operators and customers. 

The vision is to foster a harmonised and open broadband market, where service providers can seamlessly discover, order, assure, and bill for broadband services from infrastructure providers — helping to drive affordable connectivity, innovation, and sustainable growth.

To support this vision, organisations involved are:

  • Adopting common, TM Forum-aligned models (for example Product Model) and APIs for wholesale broadband services, supporting standardisation across ordering, inventory, service, billing processes, and geographical addressing.
  • Collaborating on use case validation and solution design, contributing to the evolution of the TM Forum Wholesale Broadband toolkit and ensuring real-world applicability.
  • Implementing and promoting Open APIs and reference architectures to enable seamless integration and orchestration across wholesale and retail systems.
  • Contributing to industry-wide alignment by sharing implementation experiences, aligning national initiatives with international best practices, and coordinating with regulators and policymakers where appropriate.
  • Measuring and sharing adoption progress through TM Forum-led surveys, case studies, and Catalyst demonstrations that showcase successful deployments and innovative outcomes.

"Netadmin proudly supports the TM Forum’s initiative to standardize wholesale broadband. With deep experience in wholesale and open access, and a strong customer base across Europe, we’ve seen how fragmented standards create unnecessary complexity and slow progress.

By contributing to this project, we aim to help align and simplify the wholesale ecosystem. A global standard will accelerate fiber rollout, reduce integration costs, and enable more efficient service delivery. We’re committed to helping shape a unified, future-ready broadband landscape." Ulf Engstrand, Netadmin Systems

"For Lyse Tele as long-term members of TM Forum, it was a natural choice to join the wholesale standardization project. Through TM Forum the work is being done by members, for members, together we have the brightest minds and can find solutions that can and will help the entire industry moving forward. This is a place where members can find common ground and the flood really lifts all boats.
 
In Norway we aim to standardize wholesale using the apis and product model developed by the team and project through the marketplace initiative "Fiberhub". We aim to ease the integration for everyone and enable efficient and functional wholesale broadband for the Norwegian market, and help adoption of the standardization enabled by the TM Forum members through the wholesale standardization project." Egil Risvoll Sørensen, Lyse Tele

Members participating in the Wholesale Broadband Project are:

  • 1&1 Telecommunication SE, Germany
  • Amartus
  • AT&T Inc
  • BT Group plc
  • CityFibre
  • Deutsche Glasfaser Management GmbH
  • Edelweiss Service Consulting SàRL
  • Lyse Tele
  • MEF Forum
  • Netadmin System i Sverige AB
  • OryxGateway
  • PXC
  • Vodafone
  • vitroconnect GmbH

Get Involved

We are actively looking to grow this initiative and welcome organisations who want to play a role in shaping the future of wholesale broadband. Whether you are an infrastructure provider, service provider, technology partner, or regulator, your input is critical to ensuring these frameworks are practical, scalable, and globally relevant.

If you are interested in contributing to the project, collaborating on use cases, or supporting the adoption of TM Forum Open APIs and standards, we encourage you to get involved and be part of the ongoing effort.

Join us in driving forward a more open, standardised, and scalable broadband ecosystem. Please contact [email protected] and/ or [email protected] for more information. "