The content team at Channel Partners Newsletter tracks stories of interest to the technology advisor and wider channel communities. Anyone selling communication and connectivity solutions will want to stay abreast of these developing stories or catch up on ones they have missed. All links are valid as of Dec. 17.

Verizon’s Names New Wireless, Fiber Execs

Under new CEO Dan Schulman, Verizon has reorganized its internal structure and tapped a trio of Verizon veterans to lead the charge across wireless, fiber and core networks. Adam Koeppe, who has spent more than two decades at Verizon, now Chief Network Officer, Core. Additionally, Srini Kalapala is now Chief Network Officer, Wireless, and Lynn Cox is Chief Network Officer, Fiber. Fierce Network has the story.

Avant Gets Funding From Court Square, Pamlico Capital

Avant revealed a new strategic growth partnership with Court Square Capital Partners, along with reinvestment from the TSD’s current partner Pamlico Capital. Avant’s executive leadership — including founders Ian Kieninger (CEO) and Drew Lydecker (president) — will retain significant ownership and continue overseeing the company’s strategy and day-to-day operations. Read the Channel Dive story.

Fiber Broadband Association Reports Record U.S. Fiber Growth

The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) reports that 2025 delivered the strongest year on record for fiber broadband deployment in the United States, with operators adding 11.8 million new fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) passings. The latest annual Fiber Deployment Survey, conducted by RVA LLC, puts total U.S. FTTH passings at 98.3 million when accounting for homes with multiple passings, placing the market within reach of the 100-million milestone. Read about it on Converge Digest.

2025 in Review: Telecom Tangles With Quantum

The passing year certainly did its best to live up to its designation by the UN as the international year of quantum science and technology, at least in the world of telecom. Even if commercial quantum computers are still years away, the industry is already grappling with what their arrival will bring as telcos think about improving the security of their networks. Read Light Reading’s 2025 Telecom review.

2025 in Review: D2D Rolls Out

Direct-to-device satellite connectivity shifted from promise to product in 2025, as T-Mobile launched the first commercial D2D messaging service in the US and operators worldwide scrambled to match the capability that suddenly went from a luxury to a critical competitive advantage. Read Light Reading’s Coverage.

Verizon Strikes 4,400 Tower Deal With Array

Verizon will lease a national network of 4,400 cellular towers from Array Digital Infrastructure, formerly U.S. Cellular, after T-Mobile bought substantially all of UScellular’s wireless operations for $4.4 billion in late May. Read the Fierce Network story.

Zoom Partners Push Back on its Wish for More Services

Zoom wants its partners to add services. The cloud communications provider will begin assessing partners on a points-based system in October 2026. Zoom is tiering its reseller and agency partners separately, but both will enjoy benefits from adding services. The change upends the status quo for tech advisors and tech services distributors, which broker deals but have historically not provided post-sale implementation and management. Check it out on Channel Dive.

Fiber Stories that Defined 2025

This was a big year for fiber, with innovations that are changing the way we connect and communicate. Capacity Global lists its top fiber stories.

Breaking Point: How AI Pushes Network Infrastructure to the Brink

Demands created by AI workloads are surpassing the assumptions that current networks were built around, creating pressure on capacity, traffic management, and performance engineering. The result is a growing recognition that networks must evolve quickly to keep pace with the scale, speed, and intensity of AI adoption. The Fast Mode has the story.

Top Networking Stories of 2025

SDxCentral picked its top five networking stories of the year, a list dominated by HPE, Juniper Networks and Cisco. See SDxCentral’s top stories.

Databricks Raising Funds at $134B Valuation

Despite speculation that it would go public, Databricks is instead raising over $4 billion in Series L funding that would value the data-analytics and artificial-intelligence software company at $134 billion, an increase of 34% from its last funding round over the summer. The cloud-based analytics company’s latest funding is led by Insight Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Co. and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with additional participation from Andreessen Horowitz. The Wall Street Journal broke the story.

Telecom and Tech 2025 M&A Tracker

This was a year of major telecom and tech M&A activity, including billion-dollar deals in fiber, AI, cloud, and cybersecurity. This TeckNexus tracker details key acquisitions, highlighting how consolidation is shaping the competitive landscape. See the TeckNexus tracker.