Spectrum Enterprise passes Verizon on Vertical System Group’s U.S. Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard
Vertical Systems Group (VSG) has unveiled its 2019 U.S. Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard. While CenturyLink and AT&T maintained the top two positions from the previous year, Spectrum Enterprise, the business services arm of the cable MSO, clawed past Verizon to earn third place.
As always, VSG split its assessment of Carrier Ethernet service providers into three tiers. Those on the Leaderboard must have at least 4% market share; Challengers have at least 1% but not as much as 4%; and the Market Players category encompasses everyone else. As the accompanying chart shows, seven service providers earned Leaderboard status. Cox returned to the Leaderboard after dropping off in 2018. Other than the switch in positions between Spectrum Enterprise and Verizon, the Leaderboard otherwise remains unchanged from 2018 (see “CenturyLink maintains top spot in Vertical Systems Group’s 2018 U.S. Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard”). However, VSG notes that Comcast enjoyed the year-over-year market share growth among these providers.
Six companies achieved Challenger status: Altice USA, Cogent, Frontier, GTT, Sprint, and Zayo. These service providers held the same status last year.
Looking at the market overall, VSG reports that retail U.S. Ethernet installations grew 8.9% to more than 1.25 million customer ports during 2019. However, price pressures mean providers didn’t see a similar amount of revenue growth.
"The base of U.S. Ethernet ports increased by 8.9% in 2019, buoyed by healthy demand for higher speed access to cloud, Internet, and VPN services," commented Rick Malone, principal of VSG. "During the past year, Ethernet providers focused on better monetizing service features to expand their existing business, while introducing streamlined offers to target the needs of the SMB market."
The U.S. Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard is part of VSG’s ENS Research Program. The program provides a cloud-based resource with hundreds of research topics, plus analyst support for ad hoc requests or consultations. ENS covers enterprise customer migration across all broadband network services, VSG notes.
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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