Durham, NH — August 14, 2012 — Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) found that the seventeen largest cable and telephone providers in the US — representing about 93% of the market — acquired about 260,000 net additional high-speed Internet subscribers in the second quarter of 2012. Net broadband additions in the quarter were the fewest of any quarter in the eleven years LRG has been tracking the industry.
Other broadband findings for the quarter include:
- Overall, broadband additions in 2Q 2012 amounted to 71% of those in 2Q 2011
- The top cable companies added about 330,000 subscribers, representing 118% as many additions as in 2Q 2011
- The top telephone companies lost about 70,000 subscribers — compared to a gain of about 80,000 in 2Q 2011
- AT&T and Verizon added 669,000 fiber subscribers in the quarter (via U-verse and FiOS), while having a net loss of 763,000 DSL subscribers
- Both AT&T and Verizon had fewer net broadband adds in Q2 2012 than in any previous quarter in the past eleven years
- The top cable broadband providers have a 57% share of the overall market, with nearly 11 million more subscribers than the top telephone companies — compared to about 9 million at this time a year ago
“The seasonally weak second quarter again proved to be a slow quarter for industry growth. Net broadband additions in 2Q 2012 were over one million less than in 1Q 2011, and about 100,000 fewer than in last year’s second quarter, making 2Q 2012 the weakest on record,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Yet, over the past year, the top broadband providers have added nearly three million subscribers, with cable providers accounting for 83% of the net additions.”