Eleven fiber network operators were each providing on-net connectivity to at least 10,000 commercial buildings in the U.S. as of year-end 2016, according to new fiber connected buildings research from Vertical Systems Group. By rank order, AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum Enterprise (Charter), CenturyLink, Comcast, Level 3, Cox, Lightower, Zayo, Altice USA and Frontier ranked atop the list, the Boston-based market research specialist highlights.
Fiber Connected Buildings
A level below, a total of 17 vendors in Vertical’s Challenge Tier were providing fiber network connections to between 2,000 and 9,999 commercial buildings in the U.S. In order these were: Cincinnati Bell, Cleareon, Cogent, Consolidated Communications, Electric Lightwave, Fairpoint, FiberLight, FiberNet Direct, FirstLight, IFN, Lumos, Southern Light, Sunesys, Unite Private Networks, Uniti Fiber, Windstream and XO.
“On-net fiber lit buildings are valued strategic assets that give retail and wholesale providers a competitive edge in profitably delivering services to business customers,” commented Vertical Systems Group principal Rosemary Cochran.
“A major benefit of a fiber lit building is ready connectivity with provisioning through service orchestration, without the construction cost and extensive lead time required to light a building.”
In line with a broader-based industry trend, a wave of consolidation is under way in the fiber-lit buildings market niche, Cochran added. “These dynamics are driving this year’s acquisitions among fiber providers that will significantly impact the U.S. fiber landscape.
“Eighteen of the twenty-eight Fiber LEADERBOARD and Challenge Tier companies have fiber-related transactions just completed or pending.”
A level below Vertical’s Challenge Tier, more than 200 metro, regional and other fiber network services providers are each providing connectivity to less than 2,000 U.S. commercial buildings. That list includes: Alpheus, Axia, Birch, C Spire, Centracom, Conterra, DQE Communications, EarthLink Business, Fatbeam, Global Capacity, GTT, Hawaiian Telecom, Hibernia, Hunter Communications, Independents Fiber Network, Infostructure, Logix Communications, LS Networks, Mediacom, Monmouth Telecom, Orca Communications, Pilot Fiber, PS Lightwave, Silver Star Telecom, Sovernet, Spirit/Palmettonet, Syringa, TDS Telecom, TPX Communications, U.S. Signal, Veracity, Wilcon and WOW!.
Image courtesy of flickr user Nan Palmero.
