by Sarah Pereau | 09 Aug 2017

AT&T ranked as the top fiber carrier with the largest presence of commercial fiber-lit buildings in the U.S.

Vertical Systems Group (VSG) has listed AT&T as the top fiber carrier with the largest presence of on-net fiber-lit buildings in the U.S. VSG releases annual leaderboards ranking fiber, cable, and Ethernet carriers both in the domestic market and the global market. Although VSG released their findings for the fiber-lit buildings leaderboard in mid-2017, research does not take into consideration any merger or acquisition that may have taken place between year-end 2016 and the release of the leaderboard.

According to VSG, the methodology for fiber-lit buildings ranks “fiber providers with 10,000 or more on-net fiber lit commercial buildings.” Among the top five providers in the U.S., alongside AT&T, are (in order) Verizon, Spectrum, CenturyLink, and Comcast.

This is the first time VSG has completed a leaderboard for fiber lit buildings, putting an emphasis on the rapid growth of broadband and fiber in the U.S. market.

Rosemary Cochran, principal at VSG, states that “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.” Each year, Vertical Systems Group completes research that “quantifies commercial fiber lit buildings in the U.S., either multi-tenant or company owned by more than twenty employees.” In 2016, their research concluded that 49.6% of commercial buildings are fiber lit, up 3.4% from 2015, and up 50.4% total over the past twelve years.

Acknowledging the steady growth of fiber in the U.S., it is not surprising that four of the top five fiber lit buildings carriers are also among the top five Ethernet carriers in the U.S. Verizon recently completed its acquisition of XO Communications, and the CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications merger are said to be completed later this year.

Vertical Systems Group also lists what they call the “Challenge Tier” on their fiber lit buildings leaderboard. The Challenge Tier consists of “carriers with 2,000 – 9,999 on-net fiber-lit buildings.” VSG lists carriers such as Cincinnati Bell, FirstLight, Uniti Fiber, Windstream, and XO – all of which have recently completed or are currently pending acquisition. These acquisitions will certainly change the rankings for the 2017 fiber lit buildings leaderboard.

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