Broadband penetration continues to rise at an impressive rate, with new research from Leichtman Research Group finding that the twenty largest cable and digital subscriber line (DSL) providers in the US added a record 2.6 million net additional subscribers in the third quarter of 2005.
This strong growth has resulted in the top broadband providers now accounting for over 40.2 million high-speed internet subscribers, with cable accounting for over 23.2 million broadband subscribers and DSL at 17 million.
In the past year, Leichtman Research Group reveals that DSL providers added 520,000 more subscribers than cable.
Despite this strong performance however, the top cable broadband providers managed to maintain a 6.2 million subscriber advantage over DSL, holding a 58% share of the US residential broadband market.
Commenting on the findings, Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for the Group said: “As evidenced by the results of the third quarter, speculation of the decline of broadband in the US was greatly exaggerated.”
He continued: “Aggressive offers from DSL providers continue to expand the market, even as cable operators are able to add subscribers in similar numbers to a year ago, while maintaining average broadband revenues per subscriber of over $40 per month.”
Other findings from the report revealed that net additions in the quarter for DSL were 379,000 more than in the third quarter of 2004, while net adds for cable in Q3 cable were about 80,000 fewer than the same period last year.
Recent data from Nielsen//NetRatings claims that almost 12 million people in the US have access to broadband at home, with broadband penetration reaching 42%.
An additional 17 million users were added in the seven months between January and August 2005 (see Broadband Access In The US Reaches 42%).
According to the latest figures from Point Topic, global broadband lines grew to a total of 176 million during the second quarter of 2005, a rise of 16% from 152 million lines at 31 December 2004, with the total number of lines added between the end of 2004 and Q2 2005 reaching 24.3 million (see Global Broadband Lines Hit 176 Million).
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