compare_cohorts
Telecom vs IoT: the networks publish far better APIs than the devices on them
Telecommunications outscores IoT by 8.6 points, with 68 exemplars against 14. Part of the gap is our deeper coverage of telecom.
Telecommunications & Connectivity
IoT & Connected Devices
Each sun is drawn from the cohort's averages: six facet rings, the mean Kin Score and mean agent readiness.
Telecom carriers and the connected devices that ride their networks are closely linked businesses, but they publish APIs very differently. The 1,259 scored telecommunications and connectivity providers average 31.6, against 23.0 for 992 IoT and connected-device companies. Telecom holds 68 exemplars to IoT’s 14, and its median of 30.0 sits well above IoT’s 17.6.
The lead runs across every facet: contract quality (28.9 against 17.1), developer ergonomics (34.9 against 25.1), operational transparency (22.4 against 12.9) and access clarity (32.0 against 23.7). Agent readiness follows, at 18.9 against 11.4, and 18% of telecom providers ship a first-party MCP server against 7% in IoT. Network APIs like CAMARA and the CPaaS providers have pushed telecom toward published, standard contracts. Device makers mostly have not followed.
depth_confounded is true, and by a meaningful margin: six points less catalog gap and five more artifact directories on the median telecom member. Treat the 8.6 points as partly ours.
The distributions
| Telecommunications & Connectivity | IoT & Connected Devices | Delta | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kin Score, mean | 31.6 | 23 | +8.6 |
| Kin Score, median | 30 | 17.6 | +12.4 |
| Kin Score, highest | 91.6 | 91.6 | |
| Kin Score, std dev | 20.4 | 17.1 | |
| Agent readiness, mean | 18.9 | 11.4 | +7.5 |
| Agent readiness, highest | 80.5 | 80.5 |
Delta is Telecommunications & Connectivity minus IoT & Connected Devices, as the tool returns it.
Where the providers sit
Telecommunications & Connectivity
IoT & Connected Devices
Facet averages
| Facet | Telecommunications & Connectivity | IoT & Connected Devices | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discoverability | 62.9 | 59 | +3.9 |
| Contract Quality | 28.9 | 17.1 | +11.8 |
| Contract Governance | 9 | 7.2 | +1.8 |
| Operational Transparency | 22.4 | 12.9 | +9.5 |
| Developer Ergonomics | 34.9 | 25.1 | +9.8 |
| Access Clarity | 32 | 23.7 | +8.3 |
What they publish
Share of each cohort's providers publishing each artifact. mcp_pct counts any mcp/ artifact including ones API Evangelist derived from the provider OpenAPI; mcp_first_party_pct counts only servers the provider publishes. Prefer the latter.
| Artifact | Telecommunications & Connectivity | IoT & Connected Devices | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-party MCP server | 18% | 7% | +11 |
| Any MCP artifact (incl. derived) | 19% | 10% | +9 |
| OAuth scopes | 16% | 13% | +3 |
| Spectral rules | 23% | 16% | +7 |
| Arazzo workflows | 3% | 2% | +1 |
| Agent skills | 0% | 0% | 0 |
| Security artifact | 97% | 99% | -2 |
How well we know each cohort
The coverage behind the averages. A cohort with a higher catalog gap and fewer artifact directories has been enriched less, so part of any difference is our coverage rather than the market.
| Telecommunications & Connectivity | IoT & Connected Devices | |
|---|---|---|
| Declared members | 1432 | 1054 |
| Scored (in the averages) | 1259 (88%) | 992 (94%) |
| Thinly covered | 1027 | 880 |
| Median artifact directories | 14 | 9 |
| Mean catalog gap (points we could add) | 72.1 | 78.1 |
The full compare_cohorts response
{"a":{"kind":"industry","slug":"telecommunications","name":"Telecommunications & Connectivity","members":1432,"stats":{"kind":"industry","slug":"telecommunications","name":"Telecommunications & Connectivity","tier":"report","coverage":{"declared_members":1432,"resolved_members":1432,"scored_members":1259,"agent_scored_members":1259,"scored_share_pct":88,"unexamined_members":148,"enrichment_depth":{"mean_catalog_gap":72.1,"median_artifact_dirs":14,"n":1259,"thinly_covered":1027,"thinly_covered_of":1259,"thin_coverage_note":"1027 of 1259 scored members had under half their catalog-attributable points satisfied at all (catalog_earned / catalog_max < 0.5). They are INCLUDED in the mean above. A large share here means the cohort mean is partly a measurement of how far our enrichment reached, not only of how these providers publish.","note":"Rubric points API Evangelist could add to the average member with no action by the providers, and the median count of artifact directories we hold on them. A cohort with a higher gap and thinner artifacts has been enriched less, so part of any difference between its mean and another cohort's is our coverage rather than the market. Compare two cohorts only when this figure is comparable. It is an upper bound on our backlog: it says who CAN close a gap, not who did."},"unexamined_note":"Excluded from the distribution: these carry a catalog-owned needs_work flag (never enriched, or no resolvable host). They are listed as members and keep their own page and score; they do not vote in the averages, because their score measures our coverage rather than their posture."},"sufficient":true,"kin_score":{"mean":31.6,"median":30,"min":0,"max":91.6,"stdev":20.4},"agent_readiness":{"mean":18.9,"median":19.6,"min":0,"max":80.5,"stdev":17.3},"band_distribution":{"exemplar":68,"strong":141,"developing":233,"thin":276,"emerging":285,"minimal":256},"facet_averages":{"discoverability":{"mean":62.9,"n":1259},"contract_quality":{"mean":28.9,"n":1259},"contract_governance":{"mean":9,"n":1259},"operational_transparency":{"mean":22.4,"n":1259},"developer_ergonomics":{"mean":34.9,"n":1259},"access_clarity":{"mean":32,"n":1259}},"adoption":{"mcp_pct":19,"mcp_first_party_pct":18,"mcp_note":"mcp_pct counts any mcp/ artifact including ones API Evangelist derived from the provider OpenAPI; mcp_first_party_pct counts only servers the provider publishes. Prefer the latter.","skills_pct":0,"scopes_pct":16,"security_pct":97,"arazzo_pct":3,"rules_pct":23}}},"b":{"kind":"industry","slug":"iot","name":"IoT & Connected Devices","members":1054,"stats":{"kind":"industry","slug":"iot","name":"IoT & Connected Devices","tier":"report","coverage":{"declared_members":1054,"resolved_members":1054,"scored_members":992,"agent_scored_members":992,"scored_share_pct":94,"unexamined_members":54,"enrichment_depth":{"mean_catalog_gap":78.1,"median_artifact_dirs":9,"n":992,"thinly_covered":880,"thinly_covered_of":992,"thin_coverage_note":"880 of 992 scored members had under half their catalog-attributable points satisfied at all (catalog_earned / catalog_max < 0.5). They are INCLUDED in the mean above. A large share here means the cohort mean is partly a measurement of how far our enrichment reached, not only of how these providers publish.","note":"Rubric points API Evangelist could add to the average member with no action by the providers, and the median count of artifact directories we hold on them. A cohort with a higher gap and thinner artifacts has been enriched less, so part of any difference between its mean and another cohort's is our coverage rather than the market. Compare two cohorts only when this figure is comparable. It is an upper bound on our backlog: it says who CAN close a gap, not who did."},"unexamined_note":"Excluded from the distribution: these carry a catalog-owned needs_work flag (never enriched, or no resolvable host). They are listed as members and keep their own page and score; they do not vote in the averages, because their score measures our coverage rather than their posture."},"sufficient":true,"kin_score":{"mean":23,"median":17.6,"min":0,"max":91.6,"stdev":17.1},"agent_readiness":{"mean":11.4,"median":2.5,"min":0,"max":80.5,"stdev":14},"band_distribution":{"exemplar":14,"strong":44,"developing":138,"thin":164,"emerging":309,"minimal":323},"facet_averages":{"discoverability":{"mean":59,"n":992},"contract_quality":{"mean":17.1,"n":992},"contract_governance":{"mean":7.2,"n":992},"operational_transparency":{"mean":12.9,"n":992},"developer_ergonomics":{"mean":25.1,"n":992},"access_clarity":{"mean":23.7,"n":992}},"adoption":{"mcp_pct":10,"mcp_first_party_pct":7,"mcp_note":"mcp_pct counts any mcp/ artifact including ones API Evangelist derived from the provider OpenAPI; mcp_first_party_pct counts only servers the provider publishes. Prefer the latter.","skills_pct":0,"scopes_pct":13,"security_pct":99,"arazzo_pct":2,"rules_pct":16}}},"comparable":true,"delta":{"kin_score_mean":8.6,"kin_score_median":12.4,"agent_readiness_mean":7.5,"facets":{"discoverability":3.9,"contract_quality":11.8,"contract_governance":1.8,"operational_transparency":9.5,"developer_ergonomics":9.8,"access_clarity":8.3},"adoption":{"mcp_pct":9,"mcp_first_party_pct":11,"mcp_note":null,"skills_pct":0,"scopes_pct":3,"security_pct":-2,"arazzo_pct":1,"rules_pct":7},"enrichment_depth":{"mean_catalog_gap":-6,"median_artifact_dirs":5}},"depth_confounded":true,"depth_note":"Telecommunications & Connectivity scores 8.6 points higher than IoT & Connected Devices AND is the better-enriched cohort: 6 points less catalog_gap and 5 more artifact directories on the median member. The market difference and our coverage difference point the same way, so this delta cannot be attributed to the markets on its own. Close the enrichment gap, or report both figures together."}
Result read 2026-10-27. Telecommunications & Connectivity and IoT & Connected Devices each have their own page with the full roster and leaderboard.
Run this comparison yourself
Everything above came from one call to compare_cohorts. Swap in any two tags, industries, regions, areas or VC portfolios and you get the same answer for your own shortlist. It is an Understanding tool, included in the Understanding and Influence plans, or pay per call.
https://apis.io/mcp:
{"name": "compare_cohorts", "arguments": {"a": "industry:telecommunications", "b": "industry:iot"}}
Over the REST API:
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/cohorts/compare?a=industry:telecommunications&b=industry:iot" \
-H "X-API-Key: $APIS_IO_KEY"
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