AT&T leads U.S. Ethernet sales, Vertical Systems Group says

More service providers see Ethernet growth to provide connectivity to the cloud

AT&T (NYSE: T) continues to dominate the U.S. Ethernet services market in terms of port shares sold, according to Vertical Systems Group's mid-year Business Ethernet Leaderboard.

Ethernet was a major factor in the telco's wireline and business services Q2 2012 results.

During the quarter ended June 30, AT&T reported its overall business revenues declined 1.5 percent, to $9.1 billion, a factor it attributed to a drop in legacy ATM and Frame Relay sales as more customers migrated to next-gen IP/MPLS VPNs and Ethernet. Meanwhile, the telco's strategic Q2 business service revenues rose 13.5 percent over the same period a year ago, while total business data revenues grew 2 percent year over year.

Not far behind AT&T on the Leaderboard were, once again, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and tw telecom (Nasdaq: TWTC), which continue to hold on to second and third place. Verizon reported sales of strategic services like Ethernet rose 4.4 percent compared with second-quarter 2011, while tw telecom's Q2 revenues rose 7.7 percent on strong Ethernet and IP VPN sales.

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), which held the sixth spot in the previous Leaderboard issued in February, took the fourth spot in the newest rankings, surpassing both XO Communications and Cox. The telco immediately became a major player in the domestic U.S. Ethernet market when it purchased Qwest in 2011.

Besides the top telcos and CLECs, cable operators--particularly Cox and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), which took the fifth and seventh spot on the Leaderboard respectively--continue to be a factor in the Ethernet race.

Rick Malone, principal at Vertical Systems Group, said that overall Ethernet market is being fueled by the "rising demand for Ethernet access focused on connectivity to private Clouds for data center hosting."

Malone added that VSG expects "to see increased deployments of these configurations, which could have an impact on Ethernet share results as early as year-end 2012."

Read more: AT&T leads U.S. Ethernet sales, Vertical Systems Group says - FierceTelecom http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/att-leads-us-ethernet-sales-vertical-systems-group-says/2012-08-13?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal#ixzz23Rv26fBD

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