NEW DELHI: Ciena has appointed Prashant Ramesh Malkani as Vice President and Country Leader for India, strengthening its leadership team as demand for advanced networking infrastructure grows amid the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and digital services.

Malkani will lead Ciena's India business and report to Amit Malik, Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Japan, and India.

With more than 25 years of experience across the telecommunications and technology sectors, Malkani brings extensive industry and business leadership expertise to the role. Before joining Ciena, he served as Head of Nokia India's Network Infrastructure business, where he worked on network innovation and customer-focused solutions across service provider and enterprise segments.

Malkani holds an MBA in Marketing Management and a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering.

Commenting on the appointment, Amit Malik said India's rapidly expanding internet ecosystem and digital economy are creating significant opportunities, particularly as AI drives increasing demand for network capacity and capabilities. He said Malkani's industry expertise, customer focus and business leadership would help Ciena strengthen customer relationships and expand its presence in the Indian market.

Ciena has worked with leading Indian service providers and digital infrastructure operators for more than two decades, supporting the country's growing bandwidth requirements and digital transformation.

India is also home to Ciena's largest research and development centre outside North America. The centre employs more than 2,000 people working on networking, automation and AI-ready technologies that support networks globally.

The appointment comes as India's digital ecosystem continues to expand, driven by rising data consumption, cloud adoption, 5G deployment and growing investment in AI infrastructure.