en.Wedoany.com Reported - Enterprise telecom management software provider Lightyear has released its 2026 State of Connectivity Report. Based on its proprietary dataset covering over 100,000 network RFPs and more than 1 million quotes, the report provides a neutral analysis of enterprise telecom trends and pricing. It outlines multiple industry trends and detailed pricing data points.
Since ChatGPT captured global attention, the impact of artificial intelligence on enterprise networks is gradually manifesting in some markets. Enterprise technology customers are retrofitting existing networks to support AI service delivery, increasingly purchasing 100G and 400G bandwidth for their network backbones, establishing compute-intensive data centers at latency-optimized edge locations, and leveraging high-bandwidth direct cloud connections. Growth-oriented customers are more focused on latency, diversity, and deployment speed, while emerging tech customers are adopting private cloud deployments and high-bandwidth network backbones from the outset to support AI capabilities. However, most market trends outside the tech sector represent a continuation of multi-year evolutions, with average circuit bandwidth purchases growing at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 20%, showing no significant acceleration in 2025.
Driven by demand for AI workloads from hyperscale cloud providers and other tech customers, space and power in colocation facilities have become scarce globally, with customers planning and procuring deployments up to two years in advance.
The 400G IP transit service market is growing rapidly. AI workloads, hyperscale deployments, and 5G backhaul demands are driving it toward mainstream adoption. Zayo's 2025 bandwidth report shows that over 50% of total wavelength capacity purchased last year was delivered via 400G waves, and multiple carriers anticipate 800G optics will soon become widespread. However, many regional service providers do not yet offer 400G services, requiring due diligence on underlying service delivery points during procurement to avoid latency and diversity issues caused by actual delivery points being too far away. The report also shares pricing data points for the 400G market.
Network as a Service (NaaS) has moved from the conceptual stage into practical use. NaaS offerings from major carriers like Lumen allow customers to digitally provision and purchase bandwidth products, offering significant term flexibility, on-demand purchasing, and the ability to interchange different products on the same port. However, flexibility comes at a high cost; the equivalent per-megabit monthly cost for term-less services is significantly higher than for 24- or 36-month terms, and unused ports still incur hundreds of dollars in monthly fees. Smaller carriers, lacking network presence, struggle to offer equivalent flexibility, and their NaaS products more closely resemble managed network solutions.
Wireless options for the enterprise WAN are increasing. Starlink technology continues to improve, with significant enhancements in download and upload speeds and latency, covering over 150 markets, and more aggregators offering managed Starlink products. Amazon's Leo (formerly Project Kuiper) plans to compete with Starlink in 2026, and OneWeb plans to improve its low Earth orbit product this year. Terrestrial 5G networks are seeing improved speed and latency performance due to mid-band spectrum and AI-driven RAN optimization, with Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) beginning to proliferate as a broadband alternative, and enterprises bonding multiple 5G routers to increase bandwidth.
The wired broadband market is also undergoing significant changes: Spectrum offers SLA-backed broadband options, Comcast has significantly boosted commercial broadband throughput, AT&T provides 2 Gbps and 5 Gbps enterprise fiber broadband options, and Lumen is exiting the broadband market. For details on the above trends and proprietary telecom pricing insights, the full 2026 State of Connectivity Report is available for download.
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