Report: US Q1 broadband subs growth slows

Findings from Leichtman Research Group indicate that the largest cable and telephone providers in the US – representing about 95 per cent of the market – acquired about 800,000 net additional broadband Internet subscribers in 1Q 2018.

These top broadband providers now account for 96.5 million subscribers – with top cable companies having 62.2 million broadband subscribers, and top telephone companies having 34.3 million subscribers.

Findings for the quarter include:

• Overall, broadband additions in 1Q 2018 were 83 per cent of the 965,000 net adds in 1Q 2017
• The top cable companies added about 845,000 subscribers in 1Q 2018 – 84 per cent of the net adds for the top cable companies in 1Q 2017
• The top telephone companies lost about 45,000 subscribers in 1Q 2018 – similar to the net losses in 1Q 2017
  • Telcos have had combined net broadband losses in each of the past eight quarters
• At the end 1Q 2018, cable had a 64 per cent market share vs. 36 per cent for Telcos – compared to 61 per cent for cable vs. 39 per cent for Telcos at the end of 1Q 2016

“With the addition of 800,000 subscribers in the quarter, top broadband providers in the US cumulatively now account for about 96.5 million subscribers,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc.  “Over the past year, there were about 1,950,000 net broadband adds, compared to about 2,550,000 net adds over the prior year.”

Broadband Providers	Subscribers at end of 1Q 2018	Net Adds in 1Q 2018
Cable Companies
Comcast	26,249,000	380,000
Charter	24,265,000	362,000
Cox	5,000,000	40,000
Altice	4,072,600	26,400
Mediacom	1,228,000	19,000
WOW (WideOpenWest)	743,900	8,700
Cable ONE	651,550	8,397
Total Top Cable	62,210,050	844,497
Phone Companies
AT&T	15,775,000	56,000
Verizon	6,966,000	7,000
CenturyLink	5,595,000	(67,000)
Frontier	3,895,000	(43,000)
Windstream	1,004,400	(2,200)
Consolidated	785,230	1,548
Cincinnati Bell	310,900	2,200
Total Top Telco	34,331,530	(45,452)
Total Top Broadband	96,541,580	799,045

Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, Inc.