Advanced Television

US cable adds 1.2m broadband subs in Q1

May 18, 2015

Leichtman Research Group (LRG) has found that the seventeen largest cable and telephone providers in the US – representing about 94 per cent of the market – acquired nearly 1.2 million net additional high-speed Internet subscribers in the first quarter of 2015.

These top broadband providers now account for over 88.5 million subscribers – with top cable companies having about 53 million broadband subscribers, and top telephone companies having over 35.5 million subscribers.

Other broadband findings for the quarter include:
•    Overall, broadband additions in Q1 2015 were similar to those in Q1 2014
•    The top cable companies accounted for 86 per cent of the net broadband additions for the quarter versus the top telephone companies
•    The top cable companies added over 1,000,000 broadband subscribers in Q1 2015, representing 104 per cent of the net additions for the top cable companies in Q1 2014
•    The top telephone companies added about 160,000 subscribers, 81 per cent of the total net additions for the top telephone companies in Q1 2014
•    AT&T and Verizon added 573,000 subscribers via U-verse and FiOS in Q1 2015, while having a net loss of 463,000 DSL subscribers. U-verse and FiOS broadband subscribers now account for 54 per cent of Telco broadband subscribers — compared to 40 per cent two years ago
•    The top cable broadband providers now have a 60 per cent share of the market versus Telcos for the first time since 2Q 2005
•    Over the past year, there were about 3,000,000 net broadband adds — compared to about 2,700,000 over the prior year

“Cable companies had another strong quarter for broadband in Q1 2015, adding over 1,000,000 subscribers in the quarter. This was the first quarter with over a million net broadband adds for cable since Q1 2008,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group. “Cable also accounted for 90 per cent of the 3,000,000 broadband additions over the past year, growing their market share versus Telcos back to 60 per cent for the first time in nearly a decade.”

Categories: Articles, Broadband, Cable, Markets, Research