Today’s telecom news includes announcements from Verizon, Valid, Airalo, FusionLayer, MWC, among others.
Verizon Consumer Chief Steps Down as CEO Dan Schulman Pushes Turnaround and Restructuring
Verizon said its consumer division head Sowmyanarayan Sampath will step down and remain in the role until March 31, as the telecom company pushes a turnaround under new CEO Dan Schulman. Chief transformation officer Alfonso Villanueva will serve as interim CEO of the Verizon Consumer Group.
The leadership change follows major restructuring moves announced in November, including plans to cut 13,000 jobs and convert 179 corporate retail stores into franchised locations. Villanueva joined Verizon in November after previously working with Schulman at PayPal.
Schulman said the company is at a critical inflection point and expects further structural and leadership changes as it focuses on improving customer experience and execution. The update comes after a recent 10-hour network outage that disrupted services for millions of customers, triggered an FCC investigation, and led Verizon to offer $20 credits to affected users.
Revolutionizing Global Connectivity: Valid & Airalo Supercharge eSIM Experience
Valid and Airalo have partnered to enhance the global eSIM experience by integrating Valid’s advanced Remote SIM Provisioning (RSP) platform and Quality of Service (QoS) intelligence into Airalo’s services. Serving over 20 million users across more than 200 destinations, Airalo will leverage Valid’s high‑availability SM‑DP+ infrastructure for secure eSIM profile management, ensuring faster activations and reliable performance. Valid’s QoS intelligence continuously monitors network metrics such as throughput, latency, and availability, enabling Airalo to benchmark partner networks, detect issues proactively, and optimize service quality for travelers.
FusionLayer to Showcase Intelligent Network Innovations at MWC 2026
FusionLayer, a global leader in network intelligence and automation, announced it will showcase its latest innovations at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026 in Barcelona, highlighting advancements in network performance optimization and distributed infrastructure automation. At the event, the company will demonstrate PRIMEA, an advanced RAN analytics and optimization platform that can boost radio access network efficiency by up to 20 percent and improve future investment planning by around 30 percent without extra hardware. FusionLayer will also spotlight Xverse, an AI‑driven edge‑to‑cloud orchestration platform designed to automate distributed infrastructure deployment and lifecycle management, cutting deployment times from weeks to minutes, with live demos available at Booth H5J45.
SHAFANA FAZAL