As long time readers know, I keep a list of metro fiber and lit building statistics. But as some correctly point out, lit buildings are not all equal and by itself this information only shows one aspect of fiber depth. Hence, I’ve been trying to dig a bit deeper to find other data that is comparable across the sector that offers further insight. Today I’m offering up the first version of a compilation of on-net towers per operator, assembled from public data for the US market only (for now).
I do not pretend this list is complete, in fact the most obviously missing data is tabulated at the bottom. But I was pleasantly surprised to find as much as I did, although some of it is a year old and from a third party estimate. Not all metro fiber operators have focused on fiber to the tower, of course, and then there are some operators for whom I have a tower count but not a total on-net building count. So this list looks rather different than the more general one.
| Company | Towers On-net |
Date | Source/Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| CenturyLink | 13,500 | 9/2012 | Q3/2012 Earnings Report |
| TW Cable | 7,600 | 9/2011 | Old, Light Reading estimate |
| Comcast | 6,000 | 9/2011 | Old, Light Reading estimate |
| Zayo Group | 2,664 | 9/2012 | Fiscal Q1/2013 Earnings Supplement, 1271 in process |
| DukeNet | 2,104 | 9/2012 | Collected from company website. |
| Fibertech | 2,100 | 6/2012 | Company newsletter, June 2012 |
| Windstream | 2,100 | 6/2012 | Q3 Earnings Conference Call, 1900 in process |
| Cox Business | 2,000 | 9/2011 | Old, Light Reading estimate |
| Charter | 1,000 | 9/2011 | Old, Light Reading estimate |
| FPL Fibernet | 641 | 7/2012 | Company Building List |
| Southern Light Fiber | 600 | 5/2011 | Old, CEO Interview |
| FiberLight | 400 | 4/2010 | Old, CEO Interview, 450 in process |
| Lumos Networks | 261 | 9/2012 | Company 10Q for Q3/2012 |
| Integra Telecom | 180 | 4/2012 | LightReading article |
| Verizon | ? | Surely very large, but still looking | |
| AT&T | ? | Surely very large, but still looking | |
| tw telecom | ? | Company: Doesn’t break out this data | |
| Lightower Fiber Networks | ? | Still looking | |
| Level 3 Communications | ? | Company: Doesn’t break out this data | |
| Sidera Networks | ? | Still looking | |
| Cablevision/Optimum Lightpath | ? | Company: Doesn’t break out this data |
The biggest FTTT player that publicly reports its progress is CenturyLink, which has been putting big resources behind it. My data for the largest cable operators is sketchy, but serves for a ballpark estimate of their overall presence. We all know Zayo has been very active, but I was interested to see DukeNet and Fibertech aren’t all that far behind them in wireless backhaul despite more highly focused footprints. Windstream is catching up quickly too of late. Below 1,000 there are clearly others that could be added to this list, but I haven’t managed to track down all available data just yet.
I plan to make this list a permanent (and regularly updated) resource once it is nailed down a bit further. Hence, if you have any data for other providers or more recent/accurate numbers than these, please leave a comment or drop me an email!
If you haven't already, please take our Reader Survey! Just 3 questions to help us better understand who is reading Telecom Ramblings so we can serve you better!
Categories: Metro fiber · Wireless
Join Our LinkedIn Group
Interesting article. A small comment: zayo and fpl fibernet are publishing their list of cell sites, numbers there are slightly different
I had a typo in Zayo’s number (i.e. actually 2664 rather than 2669, though they add one per day practically so…), but I’m wondering where you got a different number for FPL Fibernet. Do you have a link?
XO does a ton of backhaul for T-Mobile. I wonder if they release their data?
@JG – who cares! XO is irrelevant. And given the financial and operational situation they are currently facing they likely will lose whatever customers who haven’t already left.
What information do you have about XO’s financial and operational situation?
BlahBlahBlah … Pete .. is that you? Stop being a company guy, pull your head out of the sand and look around you. The company is losing talented sales, sales engineering, operations, engineering folks. Suppliers are smarting. Access providers are pulling away. BTW, last weeks network outage of the entire core network being impacted by old out of date systems, legacy and antiquated support tools, etc should be enough of an example to show you its financial position preventing required investments resulted in a major gap. Good luck.
Can you elaborate on the “out of date systems and legacy support tools?”. I am trying to learn more about XO and have not found much information aside from XO’s own website. I am not Pete BTW.
Nope. Do your own homework.
Why is XO irrelevant? What companies are more relevant?
Cmon Pete … again, must i tell you to stop being the company guy? Ladies and gentlemen … Lets see – Zayo for its fiber assets, VZ for its cloud and wireless assets (and i don’t mean LMDS), ATT for its enterprise global business and managed services capabilities plus wireless assets, Centurylink only b/c it was smart enough to acquire Savvis and its virtualized business, etc etc etc etc. XO has some decent products … Hosted VoIP, transport network, etc. But XO has retards running service delivery, customer experience, legal, finance, CEO, network, etc. When Icahn finally gets off his arse and sells it the assets will be worth something … just not sure how much b/c the base of strategic customers has eroded faster than his chances of not paying a sizeable chunk of taxes upon the precifice of the fiscal cliff we are about to experience. Oh and yeah … lets not forget about the fact that XO’s IRU’s on the fiber network with L3 will expire in about 8 years or so .. leaving them in a bad position and no leverage against L3.
If the data is available, I’ll gladly add it to the list. But XO plays their stats notoriously close to their vest.