Lumen (CenturyLink), AT&T and Spectrum Enterprise, in that order, retained their positions as the top carrier Ethernet providers on Vertical Systems Group’s 2020 Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard.
Vertical Systems Group (VSG) says that overall port growth was flat due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were four other providers on the leaderboard, which is based on attaining at least 4% of the U.S. retail Ethernet market. They were Verizon, Comcast, Windstream and Cox.
The Challenge Tier consists of providers with 1% to 4% of the market. In alphabetical order, they are Altice USA, Cogent, Frontier, GTT, T-Mobile (including Sprint) and Zayo.
“U.S. Ethernet port growth was flat in 2020 as service implementations were disrupted by COVID-19, and enterprises pivoted from Ethernet-connected MPLS networks to Managed SD-WANs,” said Rick Malone, principal of Vertical Systems Group about the top carrier Ethernet providers research. “The major bright spot during the past year has been rising demand for secure, multi-gigabit Ethernet connectivity to data centers and other high traffic sites.”
Highlights from the 2020 top carrier Ethernet providers report:
- Lumen, which has ranked first since 2017, is the only ranked service provider that has been certified as MEF 3.0 CE.
- Spectrum Enterprise employs the most MEF Carrier Ethernet Certified Professionals (MEF-CECPs).
- Almost 25% of retail Ethernet services installed in the U.S. are 1 Gbps or faster.
- The service most impacted by the pandemic was E-access to IP/MPLS VPN.
- The faster growing segment is dedicated Internet access(DIA).
The Market Player tier includes all providers with port share below 1%. In alphabetical order, some of these providers are AireSpring; Alaska Communications; American Telesis, Atlantic Broadband; bSimplify; BT Global Services; Cincinnati Bell, Consolidated Communications; Crown Castle Fiber; DQE Communications, FiberLight; FirstLight; Fusion Connect; Global Cloud Xchange; Great Plains Communications; Logix Fiber Networks; FirstComm; LS Networks; Masergy, MetTel; Midco; Momentum Telecom; NTT; Orange Business; RCN Business; Segra, Sparklight Business; Tata; TDS Telecom; Telstra; TPx; Unite Private Networks; US Signal; Wave Broadband and WOW!Business.
In its mid-year report in September, VSG said that COVID was taking a toll. The Leaderboard was CenturyLink (now Lumen), AT&T, Spectrum Enterprise, Verizon, Comcast, Windstream and Cox, precisely the order of the Leaderboard for the full year.
