AT&T has the most on-net lit fiber buildings in the U.S., followed by Verizon, Spectrum Enterprise, CenturyLink, Comcast, Cox, Crown Castle Fiber, Zayo, Frontier and Altice USA, according to the latest Vertical Systems Group Fiber LEADERBOARD. All those carriers have 10,000 or more on-net fiber lit commercial buildings in the U.S.
VSG’s “Challenge” tier features providers with between 2,000 and 9,999 on-net fiber lit commercial buildings. Those companies, in alphabetical order, are Cincinnati Bell, Cleareon, Cogent, Consolidated Communications, FiberLight, FirstLight, IFN, Logix Fiber Networks, Lumos Networks, Unite Private Networks, Uniti Fiber and Windstream.
On-net Lit Fiber Buildings
VSG Principal Rosemary Cochran described a growing and active marketplace. “With fiber footprint expansion in the strategic plans of every major network service provider, we’re seeing a significant ramp up in new lit building deployments,” she said in a press release. “Merger, acquisition and re-branding activity across the fiber provider landscape is so intense that it takes a scorecard to keep track. Nearly every one of this year’s Fiber LEADERBOARD and Challenge Tier companies has been impacted by one or more fiber-related transactions in the past year.”
The company also outlined transactions and other news that occurred during 2017.
Major transactions for 2017 Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD companies:
- Verizon (#2) acquired XO (2016 Challenge Tier)
- CenturyLink (#4) merged with Level 3 (#6 on 2016 LEADERBOARD)
- Crown Castle Fiber enters at #7 with the acquisition of Lightower (#8 on 2016 LEADERBOARD) and operations consolidation that included 2016 Challenge Tier companies, Sunesys and FiberNet Direct
- Zayo (#8) advances from #9 in 2016 with the acquisition of Electric Lightwave (2016 Challenge Tier)
- Frontier (#9) advances from #11 in 2016 with fiber assets acquired from Verizon
Other 2017 Challenge Tier company activity:
- Consolidated Communications acquired Fairpoint (2016 Challenge Tier)
- Uniti Fiber acquired Southern Light (2016 Challenge Tier)
- Entering the 2017 Challenge Tier: Logix Fiber Networks, moving up from the Market Players tier
VSG offered a non-exhaustive list of the Market Players, which have fewer than 2,000 lit U.S. buildings on net. There are more than 200 in all. A sampling: Alpheus, Armstrong, Atlantic Broadband, Axia, Birch, C Spire, Centracom, Conterra, CTS Telecom, DQE Communications, EnTouch Business, Fatbeam, Fusion Telecom, Google Fiber, GTT, Hawaiian Telecom, Hudson Fiber Network, Hunter Communications, Independents Fiber Network, Infostructure, LS Networks, Mediacom, MetroNet, Monmouth Telecom, Orca Communications, Pilot Fiber, PS Lightwave, Shentel Business, Silver Star Telecom, Spirit Communications, Syringa, TDS Telecom, TPX Communications, U.S. Signal, Veracity and WOW!Business.
Earlier this month, VSG said that fiber availability for large- and mid-size commercial buildings hit the 54.8% mark in the U.S. This enabled the U.S. Fiber Gap to fall below the 50% mark for the first time. It now stands at 45.2%. The measure quantifies fiber lit buildings with 20 or more employees.
