TeleGeography just released a report about WorldCom, and its backbone. Included within the report is a list of the top backbone providers based on LIT fiber, that has been dedicated to Internet access:


WorldCom 29%
Qwest 8%
Cogent 7%
Level 3 7%
Genuity 6%
Sprint 6%
France Telecom 5%
XO 5%
AT&T 4%
Cable & Wireless 4%


Keep in mind this has nothing to do with traffic, only lit fiber dedicated to Internet access.

What do people think, we know analysts don't have the best reputation in world, but do you think Cogent has that much lit fiber?

It all depends on what they consider lit... and how they consider the amount of fiber.

For instance... cogent and uunet have fiber going from virgina to nyc

uunet only has an oc12 worth of fiber (not sure but this is just for argument sakes) and its all lit

now cogent on the other hand has an oc192 worth of fiber from virgina to nyc... so technically that makes cogent have more lit fiber than uunet on that run but uunet has the better peering so... its really all about how you look @ it

That table is interesting.

We, all know what Cogent is trying to lay down as much fiber as it can, to try and get a bigger % of the market, never thought it'd actually got 7%.

One would think that Level3, AT&T would have a lot more lit fiber, than Cogent.

How long before they get upto Qwest?

If its got 7% cant bare to imagine what would happen if they went downhill.

Imran

Originally posted by DanielP
It all depends on what they consider lit... and how they consider the amount of fiber.


It is based on the top 20 Internet routes, which covers most of the large Internet cities in the US (DC, NY, Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Palo Alto, Seattle, etc).

As far as lit, they just are using the standard definition: Fiber that is able to accept traffic.

Hi uuallan,

How is this lit fiber percentage calculate? I assume this percentage is calculated against the total lit fibers of all providers combined together?

regards,
-dave

Originally posted by cabalstudios

One would think that Level3, AT&T would have a lot more lit fiber, than Cogent.

How long before they get upto Qwest?

If its got 7% cant bare to imagine what would happen if they went downhill.


Well at least AT&T and Sprint do have more lit fiber, but they also have voice calls running over those connections -- which are not tracked. Level 3 probably has more fiber but has not lit as much of it as Cogent has.

It might not do anything, no one knows how much traffic is really running over those lit connections...it may be very little.

If you all want more information, a summary is here:
http://www.datacenterwire.com/?id=85
(mods, I know the rules, but I was not able to find the same thing posted to any other news sources).

Originally posted by FHDave

How is this lit fiber percentage calculate? I assume this percentage is calculated against the total lit fibers of all providers combined together?


Correct, basically they picked the top 20 Internet routes, filtered out dark fiber, and lit fiber dedicated to phone access, and determined the percentage of the remaining fiber that belonged to each provider.

Wouldn't Cogent's lit fiber number include the remnants of PSInet that they bought, whether they are utilizing it fully or not?

Kevin

Originally posted by sigma
Wouldn't Cogent's lit fiber number include the remnants of PSInet that they bought, whether they are utilizing it fully or not?


Correct, it would actually include PSInet and NetRail.

Too bad quanity doesnt equal quality.