Report: 41% US broadband homes have standalone service
June 17, 2021
Parks Associates has announced the release of its latest Consumer Insights Dashboard, a new service that analyses the firm’s quarterly surveys of 10,000 US broadband households to track consumer adoption of home services, including home internet, pay TV, and mobile services.
The firm’s Home Services Dashboard reveals that as of Q1 2021, the percentage of US broadband households with standalone broadband service increased from 33 per cent in Q1 2018 to 41 per cent in Q1 2021, following the declining popularity of pay-TV bundles. These consumers pay $64 per month on average for standalone broadband service, up from $39 per broadband household in 2011, a 64 per cent growth rate.
“Falling pay-TV subscriptions among consumers are negatively impacting bundles with other services—bundles with four or five services in particular are losing their value,” said Kristen Hanich, Senior Analyst, Parks Associates. “However, a growing crossover between mobile and home broadband services is helping to stem the gap. The fastest growing segment of these bundles is a standard double-play combining home internet and mobile service.”
Consumers are placing a greater emphasis on high-quality broadband and mobile services, which is building value in bundling these services. Both the residential broadband and mobile industries experienced substantial growth during 2020 and into the first half of 2021, with demand particularly strong for high-speed internet and fibre connections, and 19 per cent of US broadband households currently bundle mobile and home internet services, paying an average of $128 per month.
Going forward, 24 per cent of US broadband households reported plans to upgrade their home broadband in the next six months, which would drive broadband service ARPU upwards 5 per cent year-over-year. Adoption of residential security services has also continued to increase following the Covid-19 pandemic, creating additional bundling opportunities among connectivity and peace-of-mind services heading into the second half of 2021.
“Consumers require strong uplink, good downlink, and high reliability for remote working, so providers cannot limit promotions to download speeds only—strong two-way speeds are critical, and with a hybrid workforce increasingly likely, this trend will only intensify,” Hanich said.