18 Feb 2025 U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD
AT&T Retains Top Rank for 2025 as U.S. Carrier Ethernet Market Flattens
BOSTON, MA, February 20, 2026 – Vertical Systems Group announces that six companies secured a position on the year-end 2025 U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD (in rank order based on retail port share as of December 31, 2025): AT&T, Lumen, Spectrum Business, Verizon, Comcast Business and Cox Business. Each of these network providers has four percent (4%) or more of the U.S. retail Ethernet services market to qualify for a LEADERBOARD rank.
Challenge Tier citations for 2025 were attained by eight companies (in alphabetical order): Cogent, Crown Castle, Frontier, Granite, GTT, Optimum Business, Uniti (includes Windstream), and Zayo. The Challenge Tier includes providers with between 1% and 4% share of the U.S. retail Ethernet market.
“While the U.S. Ethernet Leaderboard remained unchanged through 2025, we expect major reshuffling in 2026,” said Rick Malone, principal of Vertical Systems Group. “Top provider rankings will shake up this year due in part to Verizon’s now-completed acquisition of Frontier, Zayo’s impending acquisition of Crown Castle’s fiber business, and by mid-2026 Charter is expected to complete its acquisition of Cox.”
2025 U.S. Ethernet Market Analysis
- AT&T retains the #1 rank on the U.S. Ethernet LEADERBOARD for the fourth consecutive year.
- AT&T and Comcast Business are the only LEADERBOARD companies with Ethernet port share gains in 2025.
- The total U.S. base of retail Ethernet ports grew 1.5% in 2025.
- Double digit growth for Ethernet DIA in 2025 was offset by the stagnation across other Ethernet service segments.
- Gigabit Ethernet services are in demand for new business fiber deployments.
- AI and GenAI are empowering customer demand for secure Ethernet connectivity services.
- Mplify 3.0 CE certification has been attained by AT&T, Lumen, and Verizon.
The Market Player tier includes all providers with port share below 1%. Companies in the Market Player tier include the following providers (in alphabetical order): ACD, AireSpring, Alaska Communications, Alta Fiber, American Telesis, Arelion, Armstrong Business Solutions, Astound Business, Bluebird Network, Breezeline, Brightspeed, BT Global Services, Centracom, Conterra, Douglas Fast Net, DQE Communications, Epsilon, Everstream, Exa Infrastructure, ExteNet Systems, Fatbeam, FiberLight, Fidium, First Digital, FirstLight, Flo Networks, Fusion Connect, GCX, Glo Fiber, Great Plains Communications, Hunter Communications, Intelsat, Logix Fiber Networks, LS Networks, MetroNet Business, MetTel, Midco, Momentum Telecom, NTT, Orange Business, Pilot Fiber, PS Lightwave, Ritter Communications, Segra, Silver Star Telecom, Sparklight Business, Syringa, Tata Communications, TDS Telecom, TPx, US Signal, WOW!Business, Ziply Fiber and other companies selling retail Ethernet services in the U.S. market.
Market shares are measured based on the number of billable retail customer ports installed. Vertical Systems Group’s Ethernet port share analysis includes six service segments based on what service providers are offering and enterprise customers are purchasing as follows: Ethernet DIA (Dedicated Internet Access), E-Access to IP/MPLS VPN, Ethernet Private Lines, Ethernet Virtual Private Lines, Metro LAN, and WAN VPLS.
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