Verizon’s acquisition of XO Communications earlier this year, helped to bolster the company’s position on the board. The deal added an additional than 4,000 on-net buildings and 1.2 million fibre miles across 40 major US markets.
In addition, the company gained an intercity network of approximately 20,000 route miles connecting 85 cities, deepening its Ethernet footprint.
In order, the companies ranked best by Vertical Systems Group on Carrier Ethernet are: AT&T, Level 3, Verizon (including XO), Spectrum Enterprise, CenturyLink, Comcast, Windstream and Cox.
To qualify, providers must have 4% or more of the US Ethernet services market, and shares are measured by the number of customer ports in service and supplemented by surveys of Ethernet providers.
The overall results from the 2017 mid-year Leaderboard are follows:
- Verizon moves up to third place, pushing Spectrum Enterprises to fourth position
- Frontier has moved into the Challenge Tier, which is for providers with between 1% to 4% share of the US retail Ethernet market, and includes players like Altice USA, Cogent, Sprint and Zayo.
- Level 3 becomes the only remaining Competitive Provider on the Leaderboard.
“While the pace of growth has slowed from the market ramp years, demand for Carrier Ethernet services remains very strong in 2017,” said Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems Group.
“The revenue and profitability outlooks for many providers are improving as fibre buildouts are completed and pricing begins to stabilise.”
