Broadband Providers Add About 350,000 Subs in 2Q

Top cable companies accounted for 77% of new subs in second quarter of 2011, according to Leichtman Research Group

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/25/2011 1:12:11 PM

The eighteen largest cable and telephone providers in the U.S. acquired about 350,000 net additional high-speed Internet subscribers in the second quarter of 2011, according to Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG). These top providers account for about 93% of the broadband market.

LRG found that the top cable companies accounted for 77% of the net additional subscribers, with cable companies adding over 270,000 broadband subscribers in the quarter and the top phone companies adding only 80,000 subscribers.

Top cable broadband providers had a 56% share of the overall market at the end of the second quarter, with 42.97 million, about 8.9 million more subscribers than the top telephone companies, which had 34.07 million. A year ago, cable had a lead of 7.85 million.

The report also found that the market is growing increasingly saturated. The number of new net additional subscribers was the second lowest of any quarter in the ten years LRG has been tracking the broadband sector.

Comcast remained in the top spot, with 17.55 million high-speed Internet subs followed by AT&T at 16.47 million, Time Warner Cable at 10.06 million, Verizon at 8.55 million and CenturyLink at 5.43 million.

"The second quarter is traditionally the slowest of the year for industry growth," noted Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG in a statement. "Net broadband additions in 2Q 2011 were over 900,000 less than in 1Q 2011, but slightly higher than last year's second quarter. Over the past year, the top broadband providers have added 3.3 million subscribers, about 91% of the net additions over the prior year."