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U.S. broadband growth slowest since 2003
Leichtman Research Group has released a study of the top 19 telco and cable TV companies showing that the number of broadband subscribers in the U.S. grew by about 8.5 million during 2007. However, this was the slowest broadband growth rate in the nation since 2003. As recently as 2006, broadband additions topped 10.4 million.
This research provides more evidence, as if more was needed, that the broadband express is hitting the brakes. Though some will argue that broadband numbers will continue to increase for several more years, the slowdown may give service providers more reason to sell new services to the customers that already have broadband pipes, and less reason to extend those pipes further. Having 62 million or so broadband users sounds pretty impressive, until you put it next to the total U.S. population figure: 303 million.
For more:
- check out this coverage at Multichannel News
Related article:
- Credit Suisse recently downgraded telco stocks, partly on broadband concerns
Comments
Posted by Marketing Research Frieda | March 7, 2008 - 12:50pm
It would not be population that you would compare the 62M BB subscriptions to, it would be households which must be around 110 to 115 million. That gives you a penetration rate of 54-56%. It's about time we hit the long tail, don't you think?
Posted by Marketing Research Frieda | March 7, 2008 - 12:50pm
It would not be population that you would compare the 62M BB subscriptions to, it would be households which must be around 110 to 115 million. That gives you a penetration rate of 54-56%. It's about time we hit the long tail, don't you think?
Posted by Anonymous | March 4, 2008 - 3:40pm
Re:
Having 62 million or so broadband users sounds pretty impressive, until you put it next to the total U.S. population figure: 303 million.
You shouldn't put it against the US population. You should put it against the number of households. I haven't checked what that figure is, but if there are 2.5 kids per family plus something south of 2 adults, that comes out to around 70 million homes. The number is probably more than that, but now it makes sense why growth is slowing - the market is saturated.
Posted by Dan O'Shea | March 4, 2008 - 3:27pm
Congratulations, Jeff--you were the first reader to notice my blunder. I was moving a little too fast this morning and grabbed the population figure rather than the household figure... The population comparison is in fact pretty impressive--too bad it doesn't make sense.
-Dan
Posted by Jeff Turner / InterStream | March 4, 2008 - 2:51pm
I think you meant to point out that having 62 Million households against a base of 110 Million U.S. households is pretty impressive. Although there may be 303 Million people in the US, broadband is sold by the household not the individual
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