What’s up with… MVNOs, NTT Docomo, Ciena

• MVNOs set to take 30% of UK mobile market 
• NTT Docomo Business to mine the B2B sector with IOWN
• Ciena and Toshiba team up for quantum-safe trial

In today’s industry news roundup: UK MVNO market set to boom in next five years, according to research firm; NTT Docomo takes IOWN-based optical connectivity to Chile; Chicago is home to the latest quantum-safe connectivity trial of note; and much more!

The MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) market in the UK is set for significant growth during the next few years as increasingly cost-conscious customers opt for the mobile services and products on offer from an increasing number of virtual operators, including established brands such as Tesco Mobile, Sky Mobile, Lebara and Lyca Mobile and “a new breed of digital competitors” such as fintech players Revolut and N26 that are “spurring new customer journeys that threaten to upend the traditional telecom landscape,” according to research firm FDM CCS Insight. According to the analyst house, the number of connections to MVNOs in the UK – excluding operator sub-brands such as VMO2’s giffgaff and VodafoneThree’s Voxi – is expected to grow from about 20.3 million at the end of 2025 (representing 22% of the total mobile market, excluding machine-to-machine connections) to 30.7 million (30% of the total market) by the end of 2031, a leap of about 50%. As a result, total UK MVNO service revenues are expected to almost double from just under £2.4bn in 2025 to more than £4.5bn in 2031. Kester Mann, director of consumer and connectivity at FDM CCS Insight, described the “rise of MVNOs” as “bittersweet for network operators”, as “virtual providers offer a path to higher wholesale revenue as telcos connect new customers to their networks” while at the same time resulting in ever greater retail competition from low-cost providers “that threatens to stymie elusive industry efforts to grow”. The result will be “years of customer losses” for the three main infrastructure-based mobile operators, BT Group’s EE, VMO2 and VodafoneThree, predicts Mann. 

NTT Docomo Business has launched a proof of concept in partnership with Chile’s state-owned copper mining company Codelco to test remote operations using the Japanese firm’s IOWN (innovative optical and wireless network) all-photonics network (APN) architecture. The initiative, which is part of a wider research project commissioned by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, will see Codelco connect one of its copper mines with a remote operations centre located 1,500km away via an IOWN APN. The aim of the study is to assess the feasibility of remotely operating heavy machinery using high-capacity, low latency communications links, such as in a copper mine, in order to boost safety and operational efficiency. NTT Docomo will link the El Teniente copper mine to a remote centre in the Chilean city of Rancagua, running high-definition video feeds and remote operations via high-speed photonic connections. The Japanese operator’s parent company, NTT Group, was the initiator of the IOWN model, which is now being adopted and supported by an increasing number of partners: NTT was the founder of the IOWN Global Forum (you can find out more about the forum in this TelecomTV interview).

Optical networking giant Ciena has teamed up with Toshiba and Quantum Corridor, a Chicago-area quantum-ready network specialist that is “connecting enterprise, research, government, and datacentre partners through quantum-safe connectivity, precision timing, and quantum compute access”, for a quantum-safe networking trial. The trial, already completed, showed how a combination of optical encryption with post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms and quantum key distribution (QKD) can help organisations “protect critical in-flight data”. Ciena noted in this announcement that the trial, which was conducted across Quantum Corridor’s live production network between datacentres in Chicago and Hammond, Indiana, “successfully validated 1.6 Tbit/s of encrypted connectivity using Ciena’s Waveserver platform powered by WL6e, alongside existing WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) 800G encrypted traffic running on the same RLS [reconfigurable line system]... The trial also showcased interworking with Toshiba’s QKD servers, which provide quantum-generated keys to both Ciena’s optical encryption systems.” Ciena also noted that the trial “comes as governments and enterprises accelerate planning for the post-quantum era. Governments across the globe are issuing mandates to ensure quantum-readiness to transition information systems to NIST-approved PQC standards, reinforcing the urgency for critical infrastructure operators and businesses to begin preparing the migration now.” 

Still with the optical vendor… e& UAE, part of the broader e& empire, is deploying optical and software solutions from Ciena to “build a future-ready, high-capacity dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) network capable of handling surging traffic demands,” the vendor announced in this press release. “This network enhancement will enable e& UAE to power the next wave of digital growth with greater scalability, ultra-high-capacity, and the foundation needed for the massive demands of the advanced digital services,” it added. Ciena is supplying e& UAE with its RLS and Waveserver platform equipped with WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) 1.6Tbit/s coherent optics as well as its Navigator Network Control Suite for “end-to-end network visibility and automation”. Marwan Bin Shakar, CTO at e& UAE, noted: “This new DWDM network represents a significant step forward in the capacity and scalability of our infrastructure, helping the region respond to rapidly growing bandwidth demand. We selected Ciena because of its proven leadership in high-capacity optical networking and its ability to deliver scalable, resilient and low-latency infrastructure. With Ciena’s technology, we can provide customers across the Middle East with connectivity designed to support their evolving needs.”

It has been a humbling few weeks for the big AI companies, as questions have been raised over the safety of their latest products, with both OpenAI and Anthropic finding their models had gone rogue and behaved like cybercriminals. We can now add Meta to that list, after the Facebook parent revealed one of its models had connected to the internet to carry out an unauthorised attack on another organisation's systems. A Meta spokesperson told the BBC that it was investigating a hack that had been caused by a “misconfiguration” by an independent tester during trials carried out by AI security vendor Irregular. Irregular also carried out tests for Anthropic’s AI model that had gained access to three other companies’ systems. Meta hasn’t revealed much else about the attack, saying it is investigating, but it is the fourth incident to be disclosed by a major AI developer in recent weeks, with OpenAI involved in two of those incidents.

Rakuten Mobile has integrated Anthropic’s AI model Claude into its corporate generative AI service, Rakuten AI for Business, “to deliver new research and data analysis capabilities,” the Japanese operator announced. “The features are designed to assist corporate clients in information gathering, data analysis and decision-making,” it stated. Launched in January 2025, Rakuten AI for Business “supports a wide range of business activities for corporate clients and is optimized for Japanese culture, regulations and business customs,” noted the operator. 

– The staff, TelecomTV