The twenty largest cable and telephone providers in the US – representing about 94% of the market – acquired approximately 1.3 million net additional high-speed internet subscribers in the third quarter of 2008, according to new figures from Leichtman Research Group.
These broadband providers now account for nearly 66.7 million subscribers – with cable companies having 36.5 million broadband subscribers, and telephone companies having about 30.2 million subscribers.
Overall, broadband additions in 3Q 2008 amounted to 61% of those in 3Q 2007 – with cable having 82% as many additions as a year ago, and telcos 40%.
The top cable broadband providers have a 55% share of the overall market, with a 6.3 million subscriber advantage over the top telephone companies.
Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, said: “Over the past two quarters the top cable providers accounted for 71% of the net broadband additions, adding over 900,000 more broadband subscribers than the top telcos.
“Cable’s recent success compared to the telcos should not necessarily be interpreted as consumers suddenly choosing cable’s speed advantage over that of the telcos’ DSL service. It is more a function of the telcos’ shift in focus towards higher value subscribers while cable has been consistent in marketing broadband as part of its nearly ubiquitously available Triple Play bundles.”
In September, Point Topic released figures showing that China had overtaken the United States as the country with the most broadband lines, growing twice as fast as America (see China Overtakes America With Most Broadband Lines).
Research firm In-Stat, meanwhile, recently reported that approximately 80 million new broadband subscribers signed up globally for high-speed access to the internet in the past 12 months (see 80m New Broadband Subscribers Worldwide In Past Year).
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