Vertical Systems Group, via its ENS @Fiber Plus research efforts, reports that more than a million commercial buildings and data centers in the U.S. have on-net access to fiber-based network services. Most of these are medium to large business buildings (those that house 20 or more workers); 64.5% of such buildings have access to fiber, says the market research firm.
Smaller buildings (that house fewer than 20 workers) have a ways to go to catch up. Only 12.8% of such structures have a fiber connection, according to Vertical Systems Group. But momentum is on their side; smaller buildings accounted for more than two-thirds of new fiber lit sites in 2019, says the market research firm.
Vertical Systems Group defines a fiber-lit building as either a multi-tenant and company-owned commercial site or data center with on-net fiber-optic connectivity to a network provider's infrastructure as well as active service termination equipment onsite. Structures that fall outside of this definition include standalone cell towers, small cells not located in fiber-lit buildings, near-net buildings, buildings classified as coiled at curb or coiled in building, hybrid fiber/coax (HFC)-connected buildings, carrier central offices, residential buildings, and private or dark fiber installations.
The market research firm tracks this data as part of its annual Fiber LEADERBOARD benchmarks. Vertical Systems Group reports that 13 retail and wholesale providers attained a ranked position on the 2019 U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD, based on 10,000 or more on-net fiber lit commercial sites. AT&T topped this list last year. Another 12 companies qualified for a citation on the 2019 Challenge Tier with between 2,000 and 9,999 lit buildings.
The ENS @Fiber Plus research provides fiber-lit building counts and availability rates for the Fiber 20+ and Fiber <20 segments. Fiber 20+ content also includes annual data from 2004 for four building size segments based on employee counts: 20-50, 51-100, 101-250, and 251+ employees. Fiber Provider research covers U.S. fiber lit building counts for the top companies, fiber lit buildings penetration analysis by provider, Fiber LEADERBOARDs, and details on M&A activity. The Fiber Market section provides insight on U.S. market demographics, key fiber trends, 5G impact, opportunities, benefits, challenges and more.
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