Lumen tops US Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard

In an increasingly competitive market, Lumen Technologies ranks first in Vertical Systems Group's mid-year US Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard. However, Vertical Systems Group's (VSG) Rick Malone said there could be a switch in rankings by the end of 2022.

Figure 1: (Source: Vertical Systems Group)

"Share rankings on the US Ethernet Leaderboard remain unchanged for the first half of 2022, however a shakeup is possible by the end of the year," said Malone. "Escalating requirements for Gigabit Ethernet services – and particularly 100+Gbit/s – are spurring capacity upgrades and intensifying competition among fiber-based providers."

Market demand is increasing for Ethernet services ranging up to 100+ Gbit/s, according to VSG. In addition, customers that need higher bandwidth connectivity are looking into alternatives to Ethernet, such as wavelength and dark fiber services.

Rank order on the leaderboard is based on the number of billable retail customer ports installed as of June 30. In addition, qualification on the Leaderboard requires that service providers have at least 4% of the US retail Ethernet services market.

VSG analyzes Ethernet port share based on six service segments that service providers deliver to enterprise customers including Ethernet DIA (Dedicated Internet Access), E-Access to IP/MPLS VPN, Ethernet Private Lines, Ethernet Virtual Private Lines, Metro LAN and WAN VPLS.

On the Leaderboard, after Lumen, AT&T ranked second place, followed by Spectrum Enterprise, Verizon, Comcast Business and Cox Business.

VSG also has a Challenge Tier which includes service providers that have between 1% and 4% share of the US retail Ethernet market. Altice USA, Cogent, Frontier, GTT, Windstream and Zayo ranked in the Challenge Tier, listed in alphabetical order.

Researchers at VSG noted that their analysis reveals "that port shares are tightening between several of the market leading providers." Ethernet service providers have also experienced supply chain issues, which include extensive lead times and supply shortages. These factors are impacting customer deployments and backbone network operations.

Dedicated Internet/Cloud Access (DIA) was the fastest growing Ethernet service in the first half of this year and is forecasted to be the largest Ethernet service overall by the end of 2022, based on billable US customer installations. Most Ethernet DIA applications are focused on connectivity for cloud services and managed SD-WANs.

VSG's report on the US Ethernet market also includes a Market Player tier, which are service providers with less than 1% port share. Companies in the Market Player tier include the following providers (in alphabetical order): ACD, AireSpring, Alaska Communications, Alta Fiber, American Telesis, Arelion, Armstrong Business Solutions, Astound Business, Breezeline, BT Global Services, Centracom, Consolidated Communications, Conterra, Crown Castle, Douglas Fast Net, DQE Communications, ExteNet Systems, Fatbeam, FiberLight, First Digital, FirstLight, Flo Networks, Fusion Connect, Global Cloud Xchange, Great Plains Communications, Hunter Communications, Intelsat, Logix Fiber Networks, LS Networks, MetTel, Midco, Momentum Telecom, NTT, Orange Business, Pilot Fiber, PS Lightwave, Ritter Communications, Segra, Shentel Business, Silver Star Telecom, Sparklight Business, Syringa, T-Mobile, Tata, TDS Telecom, TPx, Unite Private Networks, Uniti, US Signal, WOW!Business, Ziply Fiber and other companies selling retail Ethernet services in the US market.

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