• Ciena predicts at least 20% sales growth for 2026
• T-Mobile US appoints new COO
• IPO speculation swirls around Jio, SpaceX

In today’s industry news roundup: Ciena reports record Q4 revenues and forecasts near 20% full-year sales growth for the coming year; T-Mobile US has promoted its consumer division chief Jon Freier to the COO role; India’s Jio Platforms and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are engulfed in IPO speculation; and much more!

Optical and data networking technology specialist Ciena is riding high on the AI infrastructure investment wave. The company has reported record fiscal fourth-quarter revenues of $1.35bn, up by 20.3% year on year, and an 18.8% hike in revenues for the full fiscal year that ended 1 November to $4.77bn. And the growth isn’t stopping there, as Ciena is expecting its fiscal year 2026 revenues to be in the range of $5.7bn to $6.1bn, an increase of at least 19.5%. “Our record fiscal fourth quarter and full-year performance reinforces our position as the global leader in high-speed connectivity with an expanding role in the AI ecosystem,” stated long-time Ciena president and CEO Gary Smith. “Looking ahead, we are confident in our growth trajectory over the coming years, driven by durable demand from our cloud and service provider customers and a growing set of opportunities inside and around the datacentre.” For the full results, see this Ciena earnings announcement.  

T-Mobile US has promoted 50-year-old Jon Freier – who had been head of the operator’s consumer group – to the role of chief operating officer (COO), the company announced in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He has, since 5 December, filled the seat vacated by Srini Gopalan, who took over from Mike Sievert as the telco’s CEO on 1 November. Freier, who had headed up the very successful consumer group since September 2021, has more than 25 years of experience in telecom, beginning in 1994 with Western Wireless, T-Mobile’s predecessor company (before it became T-Mobile in 2001).

‘Tis the season of major IPO speculation, it seems. In India, excitement is growing ahead of the expected public-listing announcement for Jio Platforms, the division of conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) that boasts the country’s leading mobile operator, Reliance Jio, as its crown jewel. The Jio Platforms initial public offering (IPO) is planned for the first half of 2026, as we reported in September, and the current speculation is that it will value Jio Platforms at about $170bn. 

Even greater excitement, though, surrounds the expectation that Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the parent organisation of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation Starlink, will launch an IPO process in the new year, with Musk stating on X that an Ars Technica report about the public listing plans is accurate. According to Reuters, SpaceX would look to raise more than $25bn from the process and be valued at way more than $1tn. 

More than 90 participants attended the first meeting of ETSI’s Quantum Technologies Technical Committee (TC QT) in Sophia Antipolis, France, at the start of this month. The specifications development organisation announced the formation of the committee in early October – see ETSI forms quantum networking unit. During the meeting, Mark Pecen, chief research officer and director at EigenQ Europe, was elected as chair of TC QT, while Axel Ferrazzini (of GovStrat), Federico Grasselli (Leonardo SpA), Martin Ward (Toshiba) and Momtchil Peev (Huawei) were elected as vice chairs. “This group will be instrumental in advancing standardised quantum technologies, particularly in the domain of product development. ETSI is not only committed to Europe’s future in quantum technology but is also contributing to a sustainable future globally,” stated Pecen. The committee is to host future meetings alongside other ETSI quantum-focused groups, such as Quantum Safe Cryptography and Quantum Key Distribution, “to ensure convergence and maximise participation from quantum experts,” noted ETSI. The committee’s first work item will be a Technical Report “mapping the broader quantum ecosystem and identifying opportunities for cooperation,” while a quantum technologies radar will be developed to “provide a simple, visually attractive and regularly updated overview of emerging quantum technologies – including quantum computing, quantum communications, quantum sensors, and more – assessing their relevance and maturity.” 

Airspan Networks, the radio access network (RAN) vendor that dragged itself out of bankruptcy protection about a year ago with a new owner and financing, has been selected by Rakuten Mobile to provide Open RAN-compliant radio units that will be deployed across Rakuten’s nationwide mobile network in Japan. The deal, for which no delivery volume or value details were provided, “represents the industry’s first commercial deployment directly supported through grants from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for Open RAN development and solidifies Airspan’s position as a strategic radio unit (RU) provider for Rakuten Mobile’s cloud-native Open RAN mobile network,” noted the vendor in this announcement. Glenn Laxdal, CEO of Airspan Networks, stated: “Delivering open, interoperable radios at scale in one of the world’s most advanced and demanding mobile markets both validates the maturity of the ORAN [Open RAN] ecosystem and underscores the capabilities of Airspan’s engineering and product teams. Our work with Rakuten Mobile showcases how US innovation and ORAN approach can give operators a more flexible, cloud-native architecture to accelerate deployment, strengthen supply chain diversity, and improve network economics.” Earlier this year, Airspan expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of Corning’s small cell business and Jabil’s Open RAN radio unit portfolio and associated patents. Unfortunately for vendors such as Airspan, the US administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed earlier this year, rescinded the $850m of Chips and Science Act funding that was due to go to wireless technology innovators in the coming years. 

– The staff, TelecomTV