AT&T retains the top provider of U.S. on-net building fiber ranking

However, AT&T’s CFO Pascal Desroches said those “losses were partially offset by growth in fiber and Advanced Connectivity Services, which grew 4.5%.”

“About one-third of these revenues are from value-added services, which are variable every quarter,” he said. “The remaining two-thirds, which is predominantly fiber connectivity, is growing at a faster rate and accelerating relative to the fourth quarter. Business Wireline EBITDA declined less than 2% versus the prior year.”

Raising the stakes

Joining AT&T on VSG’s top on-net fiber list were Verizon, Spectrum Enterprise, Comcast Business, Lumen, Cox Business, Zayo, Crown Castle, Frontier, and Breezeline.

The 2024 LEADERBOARD includes the ten companies that achieved the new threshold of 25,000 or more fiber-lit buildings.

VSG said these ten retail and wholesale fiber providers qualify for the year-end 2024 benchmark based on an increased threshold of 25,000 or more on-net U.S. fiber lit sites, including commercial buildings and Data Centers.

The research firm’s previous fiber build threshold was 15,000 or more.

Rosemary Cochran, principal and co-founder of Vertical Systems Group, said that various factors drove on-net fiber expansion for this group of business service providers.

“Increased capex, M&A and private capital transactions for fiber infrastructure are fortifying the top providers,” she said. “These significant market drivers are reflected in our higher thresholds for ranking business fiber LEADERBOARD companies.”

AI, cloud demands

Service providers cite rising customer demand for Wavelengths and custom Dark Fiber connectivity to support secure, dedicated, ultra-high-capacity bandwidth for AI and other applications that are driving fiber installations.

Fiber Lit sites increased to nearly 1.8 million commercial buildings and data centers.

“Telecom providers are expanding their fiber footprints with sizable strategic investments to address the flourishing market for AI, cloud computing and data center connectivity,” Cochran said.

New consolidation wave

One of the other notable developments amongst the most prominent players that made the top 10 on this year’s on-net fiber ranking is a new wave of consolidation.

Eight of these companies are engaged in fiber-related acquisitions.

AT&T recently announced the acquisition of Lumen’s Mass Markets fiber business, a deal expected to close in 2026. While the focus is on serving consumer FTTH customers, AT&T could potentially leverage the fiber it's purchasing from Lumen also to serve businesses located in neighborhoods where it’s expanding its consumer fiber.

The AT&T deal is also significant for Lumen. With the sale of its FTTH assets, Lumen gains greater financial flexibility, enabling it to focus its core attention on helping enterprises migrate to cloud and AI-based architectures.

No less compelling is Verizon’s pending acquisition of Frontier. The deal, which is expected to be completed early in 2026, pending regulatory approvals, will enhance its FTTH profile and expand its reach to more businesses in secondary markets.  

Verizon and Frontier have approximately 10 million fiber customers across 31 states and Washington, D.C., with fiber networks passing over 25 million premises. Both companies expect to increase their fiber penetration between now and the closing date.

Verizon will gain access to Frontier’s customer base in markets highly complementary to Verizon’s core Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets.

But telcos aren’t the only ones making big moves.

Cable operators continue to take an active role in not only consolidating but also raising the stakes of the business service offerings over fiber. Charter (Spectrum) will acquire Cox’s commercial fiber and other assets in a merger agreement expected to be finalized in 2026.

Meanwhile, Comcast continues to raise the stakes of its business service offerings. Earlier this year, the cable operator announced it was extending its Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) service, one of the most popular Ethernet-related services, to 1 million new businesses.

It’s notable that Charter, Cox, and Comcast also hold rankings on Vertical Systems Group’s U.S. Ethernet LEADERBOARD.

Competitive players, such as Zayo, which focuses solely on business and carrier customers, continue to be active participants in consolidating the fiber services market. The company completed its acquisition of Crown Castle’s fiber solutions assets in March 2025.

Zayo will enhance its profile in the wavelength services market, where it competes not only with Crown Castle but also with Tier 1 incumbent players such as AT&T, Lumen, and Verizon.

While these acquisitions could certainly alter the competitive business services landscape, the actual outcome and rankings won’t be clear until these deals are completed next year.

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