Ribbon's Record-Breaking Q3: A Quarter of Growth and Acceleration
Ribbon Communications has announced its third quarter 2026 financial results, showcasing a record-breaking performance that surpasses expectations. The company's solid execution against a strong backlog has driven significant sequential increases in revenue and profitability across both operating segments.
Revenue for the quarter grew 14% sequentially to $219 million, while adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to $27 million. This impressive growth demonstrates Ribbon's ability to execute on its goals, as highlighted during the last earnings call. The company's IP Optical Networks business experienced a record third quarter, with sales increasing 17% sequentially and reaching one of the strongest quarters ever in the U.S.
A notable highlight from this segment is the addition of two new tier 2 service provider customers, which contributed to the strong sales performance. Compared to the first quarter of this year, IP optical sales increased more than 50% in the third quarter, underscoring Ribbon's growing presence in the market.
The company's Cloud and Edge segment also showed a much stronger performance, with sales increasing 11% quarter-over-quarter. Service provider revenue grew 15% sequentially, driven by increased activity with Ribbon's largest customers. This includes Verizon, which continued as the company's largest 10%+ customer in the quarter, resulting in sales growth of approximately 50% compared to the first half quarterly run rate.
This represents meaningful progress for Ribbon as it works with Verizon to re-accelerate their voice network modernization program. When excluding sales to top U.S. tier 1 service provider customers, the rest of Ribbon's business grew approximately 5% year-over-year. Geographically, sales increased sequentially and year-over-year across almost all regions.
In the Americas, revenue increased 11% sequentially and 2% year-over-year, driven by improving activity with U.S. tier 1 service provider customers and higher enterprise sales. Asia-Pacific revenue grew 20% sequentially and 19% year-over-year, fueled by growing demand across multiple countries in Southeast Asia. This includes a significant new IP and optical project in Vietnam that exceeds $10 million this year.
EMEA revenue increased 14% sequentially with higher sales in Europe but declined 11% year-over-year due to lower sales in the Middle East and Africa following a record quarter last year. Despite this, Ribbon remains encouraged by the increase in contribution from international markets and the diversification of its customer base.
Key highlights from each operating segment include a strong performance in shipments of Ribbon's IP routing portfolio, which grew approximately 35% and were higher than total optical sales. This underscores the importance of the company's combined IP and optical portfolio.
