What’s up with… Ciena, Telenor, NTT

• Ciena pumps $200m into new VC unit
• Telenor faces charges over operations in Myanmar
• NTT claims wireless data transport breakthrough

In today’s industry news roundup: Ciena launches a new venture capital arm, making an initial commitment of $200m; seven years after selling its business in Myanmar, Telenor is being investigated by Norway’s police on “suspicion of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity”; a new NTT trial demonstrates high-capacity wireless transmission at 2 Tbit/s in the subterahertz band; and much more!

Ciena has announced a $200m corporate venture capital (CVC) programme that will see the optical and data networking systems vendor, which recently reported outstanding fiscal third-quarter results and an improved full year outlook, seek to invest in early-stage companies focused on the future of networking and AI connectivity. Ciena Ventures is the US-based firm’s first company-wide CVC initiative and will complement Ciena’s existing investment and acquisitions plan by focusing on technologies that advance network infrastructure and operations, accelerate next-generation datacentre architectures, enable innovations in optical networking and interconnects, or expand opportunities in adjacent spaces, such as computing and materials. “As technologies such as AI reshape the networking landscape, Ciena Ventures provides another vehicle for executing on our long-term strategy and capital allocation priorities,” said David Rothenstein, the vendor’s chief strategy officer. The division will be led by Loai Louis, who has served as Ciena’s VP of strategy and corporate development since joining the company in January 2025.

Telenor, which sold its business in Myanmar in 2021 after seven years of operations in the South-east Asia country, has been “formally charged on suspicion of violating the Sanctions Act, as well as on suspicion of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity,” and an investigation is underway by the Norwegian authorities, the operator noted in an announcement to investors. No individuals have been charged or are under investigation, it stated. “The investigation represents a further step in the extensive and ongoing dialogue that Telenor ASA has maintained with the Norwegian prosecuting authorities over a long period, during which a substantial volume of documentation and information has been provided. Telenor ASA is cooperating closely with the investigators in this matter. The company will do everything in its power to assist in clarifying the case to the fullest extent possible,” the telco added. During the period in which Telenor was active in the country, Myanmar was rocked by atrocities committed against the Rohingya population, leading to reports of genocide and other atrocities, prompting the telco to ultimately exit the market. Telenor’s media relations director, David Fidjeland, stated in this announcement: “Our employees risked imprisonment, torture or the death penalty if the military authorities’ orders were not complied with. This was a very demanding situation in which we found that we had no real choice and that we could not put our employees’ lives at risk. We will, of course, co-operate fully with the police and help ensure the case is thoroughly examined. This is a complex case that has also been investigated by the police before. We will therefore let the police carry out their work and await the further process before commenting on the case in more detail,” he added. Telenor has “been in close dialogue with the Norwegian prosecuting authorities for a long time, and has handed over extensive documentation and information,” the operator noted, but the police are seeking more information and have been carrying out a search of Telenor’s premises at Fornebu. 

NTT says it has “successfully demonstrated high-capacity wireless transmission at 2 Tbit/s in the subterahertz band [frequency band of 100-300 GHz] over a practical transmission distance of 100m,” which shows, according to the giant Japanese telco, that wireless technology can deliver “communication speeds comparable to next-generation optical communication standards” (800Gbit/s and 1.6 Tbit/s), it stated in this announcement (in Japanese). As a result, NTT believes the technology, which uses low-power analogue signal processing, “is expected to be used in network construction within AI datacentres supporting distributed computing and in inter-building communications, as well as for backhaul for 6G and temporary relay lines, taking advantage of the flexibility of wireless communication (immediate activation, relocation, time-limited operation, etc).”

International wholesale network operator Telxius has unveiled plans to upgrade capacity across its existing terrestrial infrastructure across Europe, the US and Latin America by deploying Nokia’s 800Gbit/s coherent pluggable optics solution. The operator, which is majority owned by Telefónica, will use Nokia’s ICE-X 800G ZR/ZR+ coherent pluggable technology to add capacity across the terrestrial parts of its 100,000km infrastructure portfolio with IP-over-DWDM capabilities. The deployment follows a recent trial between the two companies that demonstrated Nokia’s ICE-X 800G ZR/ZR+ over Telxius’ BRUSA subsea cable system, which links Brazil with Puerto Rico and Virginia in the US. The trial delivered 400Gbit/s per wavelength across more than 5,600km, which the companies claim demonstrates the technology’s ability to support ultra-long-haul subsea infrastructure and terrestrial networks. “At Telxius, we are continuously upgrading our international network to deliver the high-capacity, resilient and energy-efficient connectivity our customers need across the world’s main digital corridors,” said chief technology and information officer Jesús María Rubio.

Portugal’s national telco Meo (the services brand used by Altice Portugal) suffered service degradation earlier this week after it was the target of “mass attack”, according to local reports, though the telco assured customers that neither its networks or customer data systems had been compromised.   

– The staff, TelecomTV