20 Mar 2024 U.S. Wavelength Services LEADERBOARD

Posted at 10:21h in Leaderboards by

Lumen retains #1 rank on the 2024 U.S. Wavelength Services LEADERBOARD

BOSTON, MA, March 20, 2025 – Vertical Systems Group announces the roster of companies on the 2024 U.S. Wavelength Services LEADERBOARD (in rank order based on billable circuit share): Lumen, Zayo, Verizon, AT&T and Crown Castle. To qualify for a LEADERBOARD rank, companies must have four percent (4%) or more of the U.S. market for retail and wholesale wavelength services. Wavelength circuits are Layer 1 dedicated bidirectional gigabit-speed optical fiber connections between two sites.

The Challenge Tier for this benchmark includes providers with between 1% and 4% share of the U.S. Wavelength market. The following three companies attained a Challenge Tier citation on the 2024 U.S. Wavelength Services LEADERBOARD (in alphabetical order): Arelion, Brightspeed Business and Windstream.

“The U.S. installed base of Wavelength circuits grew almost eight percent in 2024 as enterprises, hyperscalers and service providers added more power and bandwidth to support soaring AI traffic,” said Rick Malone, principal of Vertical Systems Group. “All major providers offer 100 Gbps waves throughout their footprints and are ramping 400 Gbps installations. We expect to see a measurable increase in 800 Gbps installations this year.”

U.S. Wavelength LEADERBOARD Research Highlights

  • Lumen tops the U.S. Wavelength Services segment, ranking #1 for the fourth consecutive time.
  • Zayo continues to hold the #2 rank. Zayo has announced an agreement to acquire the Fiber Solutions business of Crown Castle, which ranks #5 on the 2024 U.S. Wavelength LEADERBOARD. Note that this transaction does not impact the current rankings, and is expected to be completed in 2026.
  • The top purchase driver for gigabit wavelength services continues to be the upsurge of AI rollouts.
  • Customer demand for 400 Gbps Wave services is solidly increasing, driven by Hyperscalers, Data Center connectivity, Cloud providers and Enterprises with heavy data transfer requirements.
  • The market for 800 Gbps Wave services is ramping slowly due to several challenges, including limited availability of services and equipment, as well as protracted lead times for space and power.
  • Three of the U.S. Wavelength Services LEADERBOARD companies – Lumen, Verizon, and AT&T – are also ranked on the year-end 2024 U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD.
  • All five companies ranked on the 2024 U.S. Wavelength Services LEADERBOARD are also major suppliers of lit Fiber connectivity to commercial buildings and Data Centers.
  • Vertical’s research shows that Ciena is the top technology supplier to Wavelength service providers in the U.S. through year-end 2024, followed by Infinera, Nokia and Cisco. Infinera’s acquisition by Nokia was finalized on February 28, 2025.

Market Players include all other Wavelength providers with U.S. circuit share below the one percent (1%) threshold. For 2024, Market Players include the following providers (in alphabetical order): 11:11 Systems, Alaska Communications, Armstrong Business Solutions, Astound Business Solutions, BCEGlobal – USA, Bluebird Networks, Breezeline, Cogent, Colt, Consolidated Communications, Comcast Business, Conterra, Cox Business, DQE Communications, Epsilon, Everstream, Exa Infrastructure, ExteNet Systems, Fatbeam, FiberLight, First Digital, FirstLight, Frontier, GCX, Glo Fiber, Great Plains Communications, Lightpath, Logix Fiber Networks, LS Networks, MetroNet Business, Midco, Ritter Communications, Segra (including UPN), Shentel Business, Silver Star Telecom, Sparklight Business, Spectrum Enterprise, Syringa, TDS Telecom, Uniti, U.S. Signal, WOW!Business, Ziply Fiber, and others.

Detailed results of Vertical Systems Group’s @Wavelength research are available now exclusively by subscription to an ENS Research Program. Research data includes the market share detail by provider that powers the U.S. Wavelength Services LEADERBOARD. ENS Wavelength services research quantifies this market through 2028, including U.S. revenue, circuits by speed (10 Gbps, 100 Gbps, 400 Gbps & Above), outlook on 800 Gbps services, wholesale vs. retail services, circuits by geographic scope, pricing by speed, verticals and use cases, attributes of Ethernet vs. Dark Fiber vs. Wavelength services – and more. Contact Us for more information and pricing.

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