Vertical Systems Group has announced that seven companies achieved a position on its mid-year 2019 U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD as follows (in rank order based on mid-year 2019 retail port share): CenturyLink, AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum Enterprise, Comcast, Windstream and Cox. This mid-year LEADERBOARD roster increases from six to seven as Cox moves up from the Challenge Tier.
To qualify for a rank on the LEADERBOARD, network providers must have 4% or more of the U.S. Ethernet business services market. Shares are measured based on the number of billable retail customer ports installed. Vertical Systems Group's Ethernet port share analysis includes the following six service segments from the market perspective of what service providers are offering and enterprise customers are purchasing: Ethernet DIA (Dedicated Internet Access), E-Access to IP/MPLS VPN, Ethernet Private Lines, Ethernet Virtual Private Lines, Metro LAN, and WAN VPLS.
"In the first half of 2019, the U.S. Ethernet market showed steady port growth just above 5%," said Rick Malone, principal of Vertical Systems Group. "The three cable MSOs ranked on the LEADERBOARD - Spectrum Enterprise, Comcast and Cox - had the highest port growth in this period, spurred in part by SD-WAN customer demand for Ethernet DIA connections to the public Internet."
In addition to the LEADERBOARD providers, all other companies selling Ethernet services in the U.S. are segmented into two tiers as measured by port share. The Challenge Tier includes providers with between 1% and 4% share of the U.S. retail Ethernet market. The Market Player tier includes all providers with port share below 1%.