Renesys Wholesale Rankings 2012

The following tables summarise the rankings of the top 10 wholesale providers in each continental geographic region and worldwide, between December 1 2011 and December 1 2012.

The rankings are based on a metric called ‘wholesale customer base score’, computed as a weighted sum over the set of downstream IPv4 networks observed to be globally routed by each provider on behalf of an originating customer’s autonomous system. The data comes from the Renesys Market Intelligence product.

Last year saw Level 3 lose its leader position in Africa to Cogent. Nearly all companies are losing ground to Cogent, which has become the highest-growth wholesaler in the world’s highest-growth internet market. The company’s new wholesale customer wins in 2012 included Maroc Telecom, while it also experienced strong growth with existing South African customers such as Vodacom (ranked fifth), Internet Solutions (ranked ninth) and Telkom SA.

Intelliquent and South African operator Vodacom both made strong moves up the rankings, taking the fourth and fifth spot respectively. Inteliquent in fact acts as a wholesale provider to Vodacom, as well as Maroc Telecom. France Telecom-Orange moved into the top 10, after it increased its service offering in countries such as Mauritius and Sudan. Telecom Italia Sparkle meanwhile leveraged its strengths throughout north Africa, while Tata maintained a strong position in east Africa.

Relative to faster growing markets such as Latin America and Africa, Asia’s internet growth appears to be levelling out.

Operators failed to keep up with leader NTT Communications, although KDDI and Verizon experienced a strong year. KDDI’s wholesale customer Softbank drove much of the year’s growth in Japan, while Verizon Business picked up a significantly larger percentage of China Telecom’s routes.

* Please note that this ranking includes all wholesale providers selling transit into the region, whether or not they are primarily Asia-based.

There was little significant movement in Europe as markets in the region experienced another stable year. NTT Communications moved into the top 10 after experiencing a strong year of growth in Europe, and may even go on to surpass France Telecom in 2013.

New customers secured by NTT Communications during 2012 include the likes of Belgacom, KPN, Internet Solutions, Fastweb SpA, Russia’s VimpelCom and the UK’s BSkyB.

Level 3’s dominant position in North America remained virtually unchallenged in 2012, with second place Verizon barely registering half the wholesale score of the leader. Level 3’s total wholesale base only looks set to grow as it continues to migrate the former Global Crossing customers to its autonomous system.

Once this process has been completed, Level 3 is expected to have more than twice the wholesale customer base of its nearest North American competitor. This movement aside, the North America rankings largely mirror the global wholesale rankings. Sprint’s North American wholesale business underperformed in 2012, and as a result fell two positions.

Otherwise, the strongest movements came from Asian carriers, with Tata and NTT Communications now counting many of the largest access networks in North America among their customers.

As a result of movement from Level 3, Renesys predicts that 2013 could be the year when NTT Communications vaults from 11th all the way into fifth spot.

Telefónica capitalised on its strength in Brazil to move narrowly into the leader position in South America, passing Telecom Italia Sparkle.

Behind the top two, Level 3’s network maintained a strong presence in the region. Given former Global Crossing’s strong history in the region, Level 3 appears in the short term likely to continue to utilise Level 3/GBLX’s network Autonomous System Number (ASN) rather than migrate customers to its ASN.

Brazil’s Embratel jumped three places to fourth, which can be attributed to its modest growth in its domestic market as well as the low growth of Sprint, Verizon and Tata.

2012 was overall another strong year of growth for the internet, especially in South America and Africa. Wholesale providers adjusted to declining growth rates in Asia, tightening margins in Europe and North America, and the growing market share of Level 3 as it slowly merges. While integration and migration is ongoing, Level 3 and Level 3/GBLX are still ranked separately. The two autonomous systems are also still visibly distinct in their routing in these markets.

NTT Communications makes substantial gains on Level 3/GBLX in 2012. Cogent climbed from sixth to third place following strong growth in a wide range of markets, including Korea, Spain, Ukraine, Guyana, Morocco and South Africa. Verizon Business and Telia both experienced strong growth in 2012, as they climbed ahead of Level 3/GBLX.

Tata and Verizon Business found themselves virtually tied in fifth and sixth respectively, with fading fourth-placed Sprint in their crosshairs for 2013. Inteliquent moves up from 10th to ninth, passing AT&T in the process. Along with Sprint, AT&T is losing ground as leaders in the wholesale transit business, continuing the pattern of recent years.