Level 3 is taking a bigger stake in the global Ethernet market, surpassing Verizon as the fifth largest service provider as it expands service availability in Europe and South America.
“Level 3 had highest growth in first six months, driven by its presence in Latin America and Europe,” said Rosemary Cochran, principal of Vertical Systems Group, in an e-mail to FierceTelecom.
Despite Level 3’s gains, the service provider still trails Orange Business, Colt and BT. These three service providers' aggressive network builds outside of their home countries have enabled them to stay on pace with the demands of their largest global enterprise customers.
While Orange has maintained the number one spot on the Leaderboard, Colt is becoming a bigger threat as it extends its presence outside of Europe and into Asia. In 2014, Colt acquired Japan’s KVH, giving it immediate capabilities in key Asian markets and enhancing its ability to serve multi-national customers. Specifically, this acquisition enabled Colt to target Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Seoul.
“Colt has been expanding, particularly in Asia,” Cochran said. “The service provider moved up to third position ahead of BT Global at the end of 2015 and is now second to Orange.”
Besides expanding into new markets outside of their home territories, service providers are enhancing their Ethernet service capabilities by implementing SDN, virtualization and global orchestration.
Cochran said that “SDN-based on-demand Ethernet services are rolling out globally by Colt, Level 3, AT&T, Telstra and others.”
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