Broadband Bonanza For US Providers
The top 20 broadband providers in the States bagged more than 3 million new subscribers in the first three months of this year, in what has proved to be a record quarter for broadband additions. These 20 big players now control 94% of the broadband market – a massive 46 million broadband subscribers – according to a report released today.
Bruce Leichtman, LRG president and principal analyst said: “The last three quarters have each seen record net additions of total broadband subscribers, and the first quarter of 2006 was the best ever for both DSL and cable broadband providers. With the second quarter being a consistently slower quarter for broadband adds, it is unlikely that the record setting trend will continue, but clearly there are millions of dial-up subscribers ready to switch to broadband in the near future.”
Although cable providers still dominate the market, with nearly 25.8 million high-speed internet users against DSL providers’ 20.2 million (a 56% share of the residential market), DSL scooped 54% of new users – a trend that has been steady over the last six quarters. During that 18-month period, there were 1.1 million more new DSL than cable subscribers.
| Subscribers | ||
| Broadband Internet Provider | End of 1Q 2006 | Net Adds in 1Q 2006 |
| CABLE | ||
| Comcast | 8,957,000 | 437,000 |
| Time Warner | 5,168,000 | 346,000 |
| Charter | 2,322,400 | 126,000 |
| Adelphia | 1,808,004 | 100,554 |
| Cablevision | 1,806,623 | 112,289 |
| Insight | 514,800 | 44,400 |
| Mediacom | 504,000 | 26,000 |
| Cable One | 253,059 | 18,959 |
| Major Privately Held Cable Companies* | 4,190,000 | 191,700 |
| Total Top Cable | 25,727,886 | 1,407,902 |
| DSL | ||
| AT&T | 7,432,000 | 511,000 |
| Verizon** | 5,685,000 | 541,000 |
| Bell South | 3,145,000 | 263,000 |
| Qwest | 1,678,000 | 180,000 |
| Sprint | 777,000 | 84,000 |
| Covad | 556,950 | -10,225 |
| ALLTEL | 441,475 | 43,779 |
| Century Tel | 285,791 | 37,085 |
| Cincinnati Bell | 171,000 | 8,500 |
| Total Top DSL | 20,172,216 | 1,658,139 |
| Total Broadband | 45,945,102 | 3,066,041 |
| Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, Inc. | ||
| * Cox and Bright House Networks totals are estimates | ||
| (Totals were prior to the completion of the sale of some systems from Cox to Cebridge Connections) | ||
| ** Total includes Fios wireline broadband connections along with DSL | ||
In the race to provide faster and faster speeds, cable came through as the top option, with 85% of broadband lines capable of speeds of 2.5 mbps or above, as opposed to just 14% of DSL lines.
DSL is stronger in the business market with 11.5% of DSL subscribers in the non-residential sector, as opposed to just 1.8% of cable subscribers.
The report also provides a state-by-state analysis of broadband usage. Topping the table were Connecticut, New Jersey, Hawaii, Massachusetts and California. And languishing at the bottom were Mississippi, South Dakota, North Dakota, Kentucky and Montana, with usage largely related to household income.