US: 945k Q1 broadband additions

Findings from analysis firm Leichtman Research Group indicate that the largest cable and telephone providers in the US – representing about 95 per cent of the market – acquired about 945,000 net additional broadband Internet subscribers in Q1 2019, compared to a pro forma gain of about 815,000 subscribers in Q1 2018.

These top broadband providers now account for 98.7 million subscribers, with top cable companies having 65.3 million broadband subscribers, and top telephone companies having 33.4 million subscribers.

Findings for the quarter include:

• Overall, broadband additions in Q1 2019 were 116 per cent of those in Q1 2018
• The top cable companies added about 925,000 subscribers in Q1 2019 – 109 per cent of the net adds for the top cable companies in Q1 2018
• The top telephone companies added about 20,000 subscribers in Q1 2019 – compared to a net loss of about 35,000 subscribers in Q1 2018
  • Q1 2019 was the first quarter with net broadband additions for the Telcos since Q1 2016
• At the end Q1 2019, cable had a 66 per cent market share vs. 34 per cent for Telcos – compared to 63 per cent cable vs. 37 per cent Telco at the end of Q1 2017

“With the addition of 945,000 subscribers in the quarter, top broadband providers in the U.S. cumulatively now account for about 98.7 million subscribers,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group. “Over the past year, there were about 2,595,000 net broadband adds, compared to about 2,000,000 net adds over the prior year.”

Broadband Providers	Subscribers at end of Q1 2019	Net Adds in Q1 2019
Cable Companies
Comcast	27,597,000	375,000
Charter	25,687,000	428,000
Cox*	5,100,000	40,000
Altice	4,155,000	36,900
Mediacom	1,288,000	24,000
WOW (WideOpenWest)	765,900	6,300
Cable ONE	678,385	15,311
Total Top Cable	65,271,285	925,511
Phone Companies
AT&T	15,737,000	36,000
Verizon	6,973,000	12,000
CenturyLink^	4,806,000	(6,000)
Frontier	3,697,000	(38,000)
Windstream	1,032,400	11,400
Consolidated	780,720	1,750
Cincinnati Bell^^	426,700	1,100
Total Top Telco	33,452,820	18,250
Total Top Broadband	98,724,105	943,761

Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, Inc.