According to a new report by Juniper Research, over-the-top (OTT) business messaging traffic, led by platforms like WhatsApp, is projected to skyrocket from 390 billion messages in 2025 to more than 560 billion by 2027, marking a staggering 45% growth in just two years.

At the heart of this surge lies WhatsApp’s game-changing pricing model. The Meta-owned platform has slashed authentication rates, the kind used for one-time passwords (OTPs) and verification messages, by 50–90% compared to traditional A2P (Application-to-Person) SMS.

The move is no coincidence; it’s a calculated step to win over enterprises that have long depended on network operators for secure user communication.

“By first securing authentication traffic, WhatsApp is laying the groundwork to move into higher-value business messaging,” explained Molly Gatford, Senior Research Analyst at Juniper Research.

“Once enterprises are onboarded for authentication, WhatsApp must upsell to marketing use cases, where termination fees are far higher and the real revenue opportunity lies.”

Why it Matters to your Business

For years, mobile network operators dominated the enterprise messaging market through A2P SMS, powering everything from OTPs to promotional campaigns. But the rise of OTT players like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Viber has changed the rules, offering richer engagement, encryption, and global reach at a fraction of the cost.

In Nigeria and across Africa, where businesses are doubling down on digital transformation and financial inclusion, WhatsApp’s expanding footprint is poised to influence how banks, fintechs, eCommerce brands, and even government agencies communicate.

Imagine receiving your transaction alerts, delivery notifications, and customer support all through one WhatsApp chat, secure, fast, and cost-effective. That’s the future Meta is betting on.

The Operators’ Dilemma

Juniper’s report warns that mobile operators must rethink their approach — and fast. To remain competitive, operators will need to adopt “use case-based” pricing models for both SMS and RCS (Rich Communication Services), leveraging AI-powered analytics to classify and price messages more intelligently.

This strategy could help them highlight the added value of RCS, Google’s SMS evolution, which supports multimedia, interactivity, and verified business profiles, while maintaining telco control.

“By adopting a use case-based pricing strategy that is consistent across SMS and RCS, operators will enable enterprises to better assess RCS’s added value,” Gatford noted. “This helps operators retain business messaging traffic across these channels and avoid losing market share to OTT platforms.”

Looking Ahead: Opportunities and Risks

The A2P & Business Messaging Market 2025–2030 report, which includes forecasts across 61 countries and 146,000 datapoints, suggests that the coming years will see a tug-of-war between OTT disruptors and traditional network providers.

While WhatsApp may currently hold the pricing advantage, operators still have one critical edge, trust and infrastructure. Enterprises handling sensitive data, such as banks and public institutions, continue to rely on carrier-grade security and compliance frameworks that OTT players are still catching up to.

Still, the momentum is unmistakable.

As enterprises chase more personalized, real-time engagement with customers, the boundaries between messaging platforms and telecom networks are blurring.

The winners of this new era will be those who adapt fastest, whether it’s through collaboration, pricing innovation, or leveraging data-driven insights.

Insight:

With WhatsApp Business API already powering millions of customer interactions across Africa, Nigeria’s telecoms and fintech players face a strategic choice, compete, collaborate, or risk being sidelined in the next wave of digital customer engagement.

According to a new study by global tech strategists Juniper Research, operator revenue from authentication and fraud prevention network APIs is expected to soar from $252 million in 2025 to nearly $4.9 billion by 2030, a staggering twenty-fold increase in just five years.

“Fraud prevention APIs provide the greatest opportunity in the short term, accounting for around 90% of network API revenue in 2025,” said Alex Webb, Senior Research Analyst at Juniper Research.

The findings, drawn from the newly released Network API 2025–2030 Report, highlight how telcos are unlocking new business frontiers by transforming their networks into programmable, revenue-generating platforms.

Beyond Fraud: The Cellular IoT Frontier

While fraud prevention may be the first goldmine, Juniper’s analysts believe it’s just the beginning.

The next wave lies in cellular IoT, where network APIs could give enterprises unprecedented control and visibility over their devices, connections, and data.

“Operators must monetise demand for location verification and retrieval APIs in asset and vehicle tracking use cases,” Webb explained. “By framing these APIs as tools that enhance accuracy and reliability of IoT location data, rather than replace existing systems, operators can broaden their monetisation potential.”

The Case for API Diversification

The report urges operators not to stop at fraud prevention. To capture the full promise of the API economy, telecom companies must expand into emerging categories, especially those offering control over network quality, latency, and connection reliability.

A diverse API portfolio, the study notes, will attract more enterprise clients and power the development of comprehensive solutions. Imagine a connectivity management platform that combines location services and communication-quality APIs, offering businesses a unified view of their IoT operations. That’s the direction the industry is heading.

A Market in Motion

Juniper Research calls this “the most comprehensive assessment of the network API market to date,” spanning forecasts for over 60 countries and more than 23,000 data points.

The report also includes a Competitor Leaderboard and deep insights into how network APIs are redefining enterprise connectivity and telecom economics.

In an age when fraudsters are getting smarter and IoT devices are multiplying by the billions, the message is clear:

Operators that build smarter APIs today will own the network economy of tomorrow.

The analyst firm has ranked Infobip first of 18 vendors in its Competitor Leaderboard for AIT Fraud Detection Solution Vendors 2024.

Juniper Research scores vendors across 11 criteria, including but not limited to their size of operations in the AIT prevention market, the extent and breadth of relevant partnerships, market coverage, and product strength. Infobip scored highly across each of these and three further categories.

Overall, Infobip was ranked as the Leading firm because it offers a comprehensive solution to AIT fraud detection and prevention strategies, including its ‘Infobip Signals’ solution, which detects AIT by monitoring phone number behaviour, ranges, and types.

Helping set Infobip aside from others in the market is its use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to detect and block OTP traffic, ensuring automated protection for enterprises.

Georgia Allen, Research Analyst at Juniper Research, said:

“Infobip has a comprehensive solution to combat AIT fraud, with a significant messaging client base to inform future AIT detection and prevention strategies. Infobip’s growth into markets in North America and Western Europe is critical when considering the high levels of AIT fraud in these regions, therefore making them key regions for AIT prevention solutions. Infobip offers several AIT prevention solutions, with Juniper Research highlighting the ‘Infobip Signals’ solution as a crucial tool in blocking AIT fraud, with differing levels of aggression depending on the enterprise’s needs.” 

Goran Juršić, VP of Business Intelligence at Infobip, said: 

“Juniper Research has recognized Infobip as the leading provider of AIT Fraud Prevention solutions globally for our exceptional capabilities and products. With the support of our customers who partnered with us, we brought Signals – our risk detection solution – to life.

Leveraging the newest technologies, Signals has already demonstrated its impact, exposing AIT fraud hotspots worldwide and saving our customers millions of dollars. We will continue to innovate and invest in preventing AIT fraud and protecting our customers and the wider messaging ecosystem.”

Access the report: link

In Juniper Research’s RCS Business Messaging Competitor Leaderboard 2024, Infobip has been recognized for its superior product and positioning, and enhanced capacity and capability.

Juniper Research scores vendors on a range of factors including but not limited to their geographical reach, depth of partnerships, RCS value-added services, notable RCS deployments and innovation.

The analyst ranked Infobip as the number one provider from 17 vendors because of its strong presence in the global messaging sector and its RCS deployments in regions where the analyst believes growth will occur.

Infobip is the first communications platform in America to have an active RCS platform connected with telecom providers. It connects to telco Verizon and will soon add further carriers.

Juniper Research notes Infobip offers value-added services that support its messaging portfolio, including its conversational AI, People CDP, and CPaaS X solutions.

“It’s RCS MaaP layer for telecoms is particularly strong, and alongside its wide-spread relationships with mobile operators globally, this will support the growth of RCS business messaging on a large scale,” notes Juniper Research.

Silvio Kutić, CEO at Infobip, said:

“RCS is the next SMS and provides a rich experience natively available on consumers’ phones. With Apple now supporting RCS, it has universal availability. As a result, RCS Business Messaging users and traffic will grow over the next five years. As pioneers in global omnichannel communications, we lead the market with innovative solutions, as our ranking in Juniper’s RCS Business Messaging Leaderboard demonstrates.”

Infobip introduced its RCS Business Messaging Solution to enable Mobile Network Operators and enterprises to create memorable customer experiences with rich conversational messages. It has also integrated AI capabilities, including Google Vertex AI, to enable businesses and brands to access conversational AI and AI-enabled chatbots on RCS Business Messaging.