Vertical Systems Group’s research shows that the following seven companies achieved a position on the mid-year 2026 U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD (in rank order based on retail port share as of June 30, 2026): AT&T, Verizon (includes Frontier), Lumen, Spectrum Business, Comcast Business, Zayo (includes Crown Castle) and Cox Business. To qualify for a rank on this LEADERBOARD, network providers must have four percent (4%) or more of the U.S. retail Ethernet services market.
Six companies attained a Challenge Tier citation (in alphabetical order): Cogent, Granite, GTT, Lightpath, Segra, and Uniti. The Challenge Tier includes providers with between 1% and 4% share of the U.S. retail Ethernet market.
U.S. Ethernet market analysis: mid-2026
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AT&T keeps its #1 rank on the Mid-Year 2026 U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD.
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Rankings change for four of the seven Ethernet LEADERBOARD providers.
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Verizon moves up from the #4 position to the #2 rank with its completed acquisition and integration of Frontier assets.
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As a result, Lumen dips from the #2 position to #3. Spectrum Business drops from #3 into the #4 position.
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Zayo moves up into the LEADERBOARD at the #6 position from the Challenge Tier due to its acquisition of Crown Castle, which was completed in May 2026.
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Cox Business falls into the #7 and final position. The acquisition of Cox by Spectrum’s parent company, Charter Communications, was completed in August 2026 and is not included in the mid-year results.
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The Challenge Tier for mid-2026 includes six companies: Cogent, Granite, GTT, Lightpath, Segra (including UPN) and Uniti (includes Windstream). Segra enters the Challenge Tier, moving up from the Market Player tier.
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DIA (Dedicated Internet Access) is the top Ethernet service in the U.S. based on both ports and revenue.
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Enterprise customers are shifting from lower speed Ethernet private lines to more robust SD-WAN and SASE services.
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Three LEADERBOARD companies have attained Mplify MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet (CE) certification: AT&T, Lumen and Verizon.
Read the full press release here.
