IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, today released findings from its 2017 SIP Trunking North America Service Provider Scorecard , which analyzes and ranks the top Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking service providers in North America.

For the second year in a row, Level 3 led the SIP trunking market, with Verizon, CenturyLink, AT&T and Windstream rounding out the top five.

“Level 3 retained the leadership position in our Scorecard for the second consecutive year with the largest installed base of SIP trunks,” said Diane Myers, senior research director for VoIP, UC and IMS at IHS Markit. “We expect Level 3’s position to be strengthened going forward due to its acquisition by CenturyLink, who ranked third in this year’s Scorecard.”

“Verizon came in as a strong second due to the acquisition of XO and its installed base,” Myers said. “The name of the game with the large network operators is consolidation, and it has absolutely impacted the top end of the SIP trunking market, resulting in fewer options for businesses.”

In its ninth year of publication, the IHS Markit Scorecard ranks SIP trunking providers on criteria such as the number of IP-connectivity trunks, financial stability, market strategy, service capabilities and support options.

The mix of top providers in the scorecard has been very consistent over the past few years, with only minor shifting in the rankings.

Said Myers: “Many of the top SIP trunking providers consistently continue to do the right things, but their strategic focus is on higher margin services, particularly unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and cloud contact center. In that regard, less work is going into service enhancements, but efforts on back-end operations do continue, particularly provisioning automation and customer portals.”

Other providers analyzed in the IHS Markit Scorecard include Birch, Fusion, IntelePeer, Sprint and Twilio. Birch, a privately held company based in Atlanta, was a newcomer to the report for 2017.

For information on purchasing this report, contact the sales department at IHS Markit in the Americas at (844) 301-7334 or technology_us@ihsmarkit.com; in EMEA at +44 1344 328 300 or technology_emea@ihsmarkit.com; or APAC at +604 291 3600 or technology_apac@ihsmarkit.com .

About IHS Markit ( www.ihsmarkit.com )

IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO) is a world leader in critical information, analytics and expertise for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. The company delivers next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government, improving their operational efficiency and providing deep insights that lead to well-informed, confident decisions. IHS Markit has more than 50,000 key business and government customers, including 85 percent of the Fortune Global 500 and the world's leading financial institutions. Headquartered in London, IHS Markit is committed to sustainable, profitable growth.

IHS Markit is a registered trademark of IHS Markit Ltd. and/or its affiliates. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners © 2017 IHS Markit Ltd. All rights reserved.

# # # #