BOSTON, MA, May 30, 2025 – Vertical Systems Group’s 2024 U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD results are as follows (in rank order by number of on-net fiber lit buildings): AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum Enterprise, Comcast Business, Lumen, Cox Business, Zayo, Crown Castle, Frontier and Breezeline. 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. Previously the threshold was 15,000 or more.

Ten companies attain a 2024 Challenge Tier citation as follows (in alphabetical order): Altafiber, Altice USA, Brightspeed, Consolidated Communications, Conterra Networks, FirstLight, Great Plains Communications, Segra, Uniti Fiber and Windstream. Each of these providers qualifies for the 2024 Challenge Tier with between 5,000 and 25,000 U.S. fiber lit commercial sites. Previously the range to qualify required between 5,000 and 14,999 on-net lit buildings.

“Telecom providers are expanding their fiber footprints with sizable strategic investments to address the flourishing market for AI, cloud computing and data center connectivity,” said Rosemary Cochran, principal of Vertical Systems Group. “Increased capex, M&A and private capital transactions for fiber infrastructure are fortifying the top providers. These significant market drivers are reflected in our higher thresholds for ranking business fiber LEADERBOARD companies.”

U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD Highlights

• The 2024 LEADERBOARD includes the ten companies that achieved the new threshold of 25,000 or more fiber lit buildings. Eight of these companies are engaged in fiber related acquisitions.
• AT&T continues to secure the #1 rank for 2024 U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings based on a substantial gain in new fiber installations. The company recently announced the acquisition of Lumen’s Mass Markets fiber business in a deal that is expected to close in 2026.
• Verizon’s acquisition of Frontier is expected to be completed early in 2026 pending regulatory approvals.
• Charter (Spectrum) will acquire Cox’s commercial fiber and other assets in a merger agreement expected to be finalized in 2026.
• Zayo completed its acquisition of Crown Castle’s fiber solutions assets in March 2025.
• The 2024 Challenge Tier includes ten companies with the additions of Altice USA, Brightspeed, Conterra Networks and Segra.
• 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.
• The primary technology suppliers to U.S. fiber providers in 2024 were Ciena, Infinera, Nokia, Cisco and Fujitsu. In February 2025 Infinera was fully acquired by Nokia.

Market Players include all other fiber providers with fewer than 5,000 U.S. commercial fiber lit buildings. The 2024 Market Players tier covers more than two hundred metro, regional and other fiber providers, including the following companies (in alphabetical order): 11:11 Systems, ACD, Alaska Communications, American Telesis, Arelion, Armstrong Business Solutions, Astound Business, Bluebird Fiber, C Spire, Centracom, Cogent, DFN, DQE Communications, Everstream, Exa Infrastructure, ExteNet Systems, Fatbeam, FiberLight, First Digital, Flo Networks, Fusion Connect, GCI, GCX, Glo Fiber, Google Fiber, Granite Telecommunications, Hunter Communications, Logix Fiber Networks, Lumos Networks, LS Networks, Mediacom Business, MetroNet Business, Midco, Momentum Telecom, Pilot Fiber, PS Lightwave, Ritter Communications, Silver Star Telecom, Sonic Business, Sparklight Business, Syringa, T-Mobile Fiber, Tata Communications, TDS Telecom, TPx, U.S. Signal, Vast Networks, WOW!Business, Ziply Fiber, and others.

For this analysis, a fiber lit building is defined as a commercial site or data center that has on-net optical fiber connectivity to a network provider’s infrastructure, plus active service termination equipment onsite. Excluded from this analysis are standalone cell towers, small cells not located in fiber lit buildings, near net buildings, buildings classified as coiled at curb or coiled in building, HFC-connected buildings, carrier central offices, residential buildings, and private or dark fiber installations.

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