The twenty largest cable and telephone providers in the US, representing about 94% of the market, acquired over 2.5 million net additional broadband subscribers in the third quarter of 2006, according to Leichtman Research Group (LRG).
LRG says that these top broadband providers now account for nearly 50.9 million high-speed internet subscribers, with cable having over 28.1 million subscribers and telephone subscribers having 22.7 million DSL and other broadband subscribers.
The top telephone providers in the US added 1.33 million broadband subscribers, representing 53% of the net broadband additions for the quarter versus cable. Total net broadband additions were about 100,000 fewer than the third quarter of last year.
LRG adds that telephone companies added more broadband subscribers than cable providers in each of the last eight quarters, acquiring about 1.5 million more subscribers than cable over the past two years.
The top cable broadband providers still have a 5.4 million subscriber advantage over the telephone companies and command a 55% share of the market.
Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG, said: “Not surprisingly, the broadband market in the US bounced back in the third quarter of 2006 with 450,000 more net additions than in the second quarter of the year.
“Through the first three months of 2006 there have been over 7.7 million net broadband additions.”
| Broadband Internet Provider |
Subscribers at End of 3Q 2006 |
Net Adds in 3Q 2006 |
| Cable Companies |
|
|
| Comcast* |
11,000,000 |
536,000 |
| Time Warner* |
6,398,000 |
251,000 |
| Cox** |
3,200,000 |
75,000 |
| Charter* |
2,343,200 |
88,100 |
| Cablevision |
1,963,880 |
72,438 |
| Insight |
579,700 |
45,200 |
| Mediacom |
544,000 |
28,000 |
| Cable One |
276,434 |
15,172 |
| RCN |
269,000 |
12,000 |
| Other Major Private Cable Companies*** |
1,575,000 |
80,000 |
| Total Top Cable |
28,149,214 |
1,202,910 |
| Telephone Companies^ |
|
|
| AT&T |
8,148,000 |
374,000 |
| Verizon |
6,573,000 |
448,000 |
| Bell South |
3,449,000 |
176,000 |
| Qwest |
1,973,000 |
175,000 |
| Embarq |
993,000 |
84,000 |
| Windstream |
603,114 |
55,268 |
| Covad |
531,648 |
-16,341 |
| CenturyTel |
340,000 |
27,147 |
| Cincinnati Bell |
187,700 |
11,200 |
| Total Top Telephone Companies |
22,738,462 |
1,334,274 |
| Total Broadband |
50,887,676 |
2,537,184 |
| * Totals reflect pro forma results from system sales and acquisitions |
| ** LRG estimate |
| *** Includes LRG estimates for Bright House and Suddenlink |
| ^ Total includes DSL and wireline broadband connections |
Recent research from Point Topic revealed that, after a poor second quarter in the UK, the total number of BT DSL lines increased from 8.07 to some 8.49 million during Q3 (see Broadband Britain Recovering From Poor Q2).
In October, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said that the number of broadband subscribers in the 30 countries tracked which they track (including the US) reached 181 million in June, a 33% increase over the previous year (see Broadband Subscribers Increase 33%).
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