Level 3 in AT&T's Ethernet Rearview Mirror

Orange Business Services, Colt and AT&T remained the top three companies on Vertical Systems Group’s Mid-Year 2017 Global Provider Ethernet Leaderboard.

Level 3 Communications leapfrogged BT Global Services from fifth to fourth, while Verizon and NTT took the No. 6 and 7 spots. The leaderboard ranks companies that hold a 4 percent or larger share of billable retail ports at sites outside of their respective home countries.

Orange, Colt and AT&T maintained their spots from the year-end 2016 leaderboard.

“Demand for global Ethernet networking continues to expand,” said Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems Group. “As retail Ethernet providers extend their network footprints through partners worldwide, the growth outlook for wholesale services is increasing.”

Orchestration across multiple provider networks is the top challenge constraining new service deployments, he said.

“This obstacle is being addressed through collaboration among industry players and standards organizations, including efforts to standardize on open APIs and service specifications,” Malone said.

The Challenge Tier of global providers includes companies with a market share between 2 percent and 4 percent. Cogent, Singtel, T-Systems, Tata Communications, Telefonica Worldwide and Vodafone are ranked on this tier.

Read Vertical Systens’ announcement.

Last month, AT&T led the U.S. carrier Ethernet rankings.