The Wholesale Application Community has sold its technology assets to API specialist Apigee, who have announced a partnership with industry body the GSMA.

US-based Apigee said it intends to build on WAC's technology to deliver a unified network API service for operators as well as a cross-device mobile app development platform.

Operators including Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Telenor have already deployed WAC’s Payment API solution, which launched in February this year, as direct billing gathers momentum.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but Apigee CEO Chet Kapoor said the acquisition has the potential to “dramatically accelerate the pace of mobile app innovation across heterogeneous platforms and mobile operators”.

The company also announced a partnership with the GSMA whereby it will provide WAC’s assets, which includes its Web Run Time solution, as a managed service to the GSMA’s 800 members.

“By integrating WAC into the GSMA, we will be able to scale [their assets] across our full membership, assisting operators around the world to better serve their customers,” said Franco Bernabè, GSMA chairman.

WAC was formed by a group of 24 mobile operators at Mobile World Congress 2010 with the aim of tackling device fragmentation through the introduction of open standard web technologies.

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