Vertical Systems Group’s 2021 Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard consists, in order, of Lumen – which has held the top spot since 2017 — AT&T, Spectrum Enterprise, Verizon, Comcast Business and Cox Business. The VSG Leaderboard is comprised of providers that have a 4% or greater share of the U.S. Ethernet services market.
Companies in the Challenge Tier, which are those with between 1% and 4% of the market, are (in alphabetical order) Altice USA, Cogent, Frontier, GTT, Windstream and Zayo.
VSG Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard
The Market Player tier consists of companies with less than 1% of the market. An alphabetized non-exhaustive list includes ACD, AireSpring, Alaska Communications, American Telesis, Armstrong Business Solutions, Arelion, Astound Business, Atlantic Broadband, bSimplify, BT Global Services, Centracom, Cincinnati Bell, Consolidated Communications, Crown Castle, Douglas Fast Net, DQE Communications, ExteNet Systems, Fatbeam, FiberLight, FirstLight, Fusion Connect, Global Cloud Xchange, Great Plains Communications, Hunter Communications, Logix Fiber Networks, FirstComm, LS Networks, MetTel, Midco, Momentum Telecom, NTT, Orange Business, Pilot Fiber, PS Lightwave, Segra, Shentel Business, Silver Star Telecom, Sparklight Business, Syringa, T-Mobile, Tata, TDS Telecom, Telstra, TPx, Transtelco, Unite Private Networks, Unity, US Signal, Veracity Networks, WOW!Business and Ziply Fiber.
It appears to have been a good year for the category. “U.S. Ethernet port growth stabilized in 2021, following stifled market demand throughout the previous year,” VSG principal Rick Malone said in a press release. “Our latest research shows how enterprise SD-WAN transformations are impacting the Ethernet market as customers increase installations of high speed DIA connectivity in their networks, and decrease use of legacy switched Ethernet services.”
VSG offered several takeaways:
- The three cable industry-related service providers on the Leaderboard – Spectrum Enterprise, Comcast Business and Cox Business – had the most new installations of billable Ethernet customer ports.
- Ethernet dedicated Internet access (DIA) is the predominant underlay solution for dedicated Internet access connectivity in U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN networks.
- Windstream dropped from Leaderboard to the Challenge Tier.
- Lumen and Verizon have attained MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet (CE) certification.
- Spectrum Enterprise employs more than 1,200 MEF Carrier Ethernet Certified Professionals (MEF-CECPs). This is highest number across all Ethernet providers.