LRG: Telcos, cable MSOs added 350,000 net broadband subscribers in Q2

While the U.S. economy may be taking yet another nosedive, the one thing that Leichtman Research Group's (LRG) new broadband report revealed is that consumers aren't giving up their broadband connections.

Evidence of that trend was seen in Q2 2011 where 18 of the largest cable and traditional ILECs in the United States, representing about 93 percent of the market, acquired about 350,000 net additional broadband data subscribers.

Leichtman Research Group broadband subscribers q2 2011

Click here for a detailed view of LRG's broadband subscriber report.

Cable appeared to have the upper hand over the telcos in the broadband additions department, accounting for 77 percent of the net broadband additions during the quarter. Cable operators overall added over 270,000 broadband subscribers in the quarter.

Traditional telcos during the second quarter added about 80,000 subscribers during the quarter versus a net loss of 10,000 subscribers in Q2 2010. Specifically, the two largest telcos--AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ)--added a total of 628,000 fiber-based subscribers in the quarter via U-verse and FiOS, while losing 578,000 net DSL subscribers.

Not far behind AT&T and Verizon was CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL). Although it only added 12,000 broadband subscribers during the quarter, the telco instantly established itself as the top three broadband provider with over 5.4 million subscribers when it completed its acquisition of Qwest in April.

Although the second quarter is traditionally one of the slowest quarters for broadband industry growth, net Q2 broadband additions were over 900,000 less than in Q1, but slightly higher than last year's second quarter.

Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group said that "over the past year the top broadband providers have added 3.3 million subscribers, about 91 percent of the net additions over the prior year."

For more:
- see the release

Special report: Wireline in the second quarter 2011

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