I probably need to change the record here – that fiber matters more right now. I mean, hardly a revelevation, right? But there’s sympathy for the old telco devils in this (long) conversation with Ciena – which took place at MWC in Barcelona earlier this month, is revived here just as OFC in Los Angeles closes, and plots a course between the topics at both shows: mobile and fiber networks for AI. All last week, still processing the MWC fallout, I banged on about how the most urgent AI challenge for telcos is to upgrade their longhaul fiber systems; more than that, the message was that mobile is a slower-burn mid-term project, by comparison. Chill; there’s time.

There isn’t much time, of course. AI infrastructure is straining at the bit; the industry wants and needs it to cut loose. More than 50 percent of AI sessions are on mobile, said Nokia at MWC; of course, most of those are loss-leader consumer GPT sessions, and it is up to the industry to get AI working for enterprises. Which will also bring in the mobile access network, but probably not by the same margin. But Ciena, with two customer segments to serve, talks up the prospects of slicing, for example (and the need to automate and orchestrate). More specifically, it puts focus on the AI rush into longhaul coherent optics on photonic line systems – as purchased, deployed, managed by telcos.

And not hyperscalers, buying up the same for new scale-across interconnect systems – which is where the most urgent networking has been. And so we have the telco opportunity in infrastructure terms: it is still, most clearly, about fiber, but mobile will matter for sure. Of course – just like we said yesterday, and all through, discussing Telefónica, Verizon, lots of others. It’s not sympathy from Ciena, either; it is more like excitement for its oldest customer base (to buy more stuff). Still, a very good conversation, and a decent writeup. Otherwise, Sulagna has a good overview of OCUDU – which might just be the next record on the deck.