Vertical Systems Group’s latest U.S. Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard (2015) is out, and there’s a new member of the elite group.

It’s Windstream Communications, which cracked the list by garnering at least 4 percent of the Ethernet services market. Shares are measured by number of ports in service at business and enterprises as tracked by Vertical, with input from surveys of Ethernet providers.

AT&T was ranked No. 1, followed in order by Level 3, Verizon, CenturyLink, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox, XO Communications and Windstream.

“For the full year 2015, the Ethernet market grew by more than 20 percent; however, the second half of the year showed moderating growth going into 2016,” said Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems Group.

Malone said Windstream moved up from the network-services analyst’s Challenge Tier to the Leaderboard “based on the strength of its Ethernet private line service and its presence in many smaller markets that others do not serve.”

In 2016, the providers that Vertical surveyed said they’ll be focused on increasing the size of their coverage areas and furthering their support for faster speeds. MEF CE 2.0 certification will be key, the companies said, to remain competitive. Seven of the nine companies on the latest Leaderboard have services certified in this manner.{ad}

Five companies made it onto Verticals’ Challenge Tier for having port share of between 1 and 4 percent. They are, alphabetically: Bright House, Charter, Cogent, Lightpath and Zayo.

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