Cable Companies Continue to Dominate U.S. Broadband The nation's biggest cable companies continue to dominate traditional telcos when it comes to quarterly broadband additions. According to the latest data by Leichtman Research, the nation's top cable operators added 845,000 subscribers during the first quarter, while the nation's telcos lost 45,000 broadband subscribers during the quarter. That's largely thanks to many phone companies (Verizon, Frontier, Windstream, CenturyLink) refusal to upgrade aging DSL users at any real scale, resulting in a slow but steady exodus as users flee to cable to obtain the FCC's definition of broadband (25 Mbps).

According to Leichtman, that's eight straight quarters during which the nation's telcos have lost subscribers. At the end of the first quarter, cable had a 64% market share versus 36% for Telcos -- compared to 61% for cable versus 39% for Telcos at the end of 2016. This expanding monopoly not only reduces the incentive on cable to to improve historically-terrible customer service, but it also gives them the green light to abuse these captive markets via a bevy of price hikes -- especially arbitrary and unnecessary usage caps and overage fees. Overall, broadband growth continues to slow, which is driving many of these companies into additional markets (like online advertising). "With the addition of 800,000 subscribers in the quarter, top broadband providers in the U.S. cumulatively now account for about 96.5 million subscribers," analyst Bruce Leichtman said. "Over the past year, there were about 1,950,000 net broadband adds, compared to about 2,550,000 net adds over the prior year." "With the addition of 800,000 subscribers in the quarter, top broadband providers in the U.S. cumulatively now account for about 96.5 million subscribers," analyst Bruce Leichtman said. "Over the past year, there were about 1,950,000 net broadband adds, compared to about 2,550,000 net adds over the prior year."







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Most recommended from 40 comments



Dryvlyne

Far Beyond Driven

Premium Member

join:2004-08-30

Newark, OH 10 recommendations Dryvlyne Premium Member Wireless didn't save the day Telcos thought they could hold out on investing in their infrastructure while wireless matured. They grossly underestimated that people prefer to have a fixed line to their house that isn't data capped.

Anonfe6a8

@198.98.53.x 7 recommendations Anonfe6a8 Anon Refusal to upgrade period. quote: That's largely thanks to many phone companies (Verizon, Frontier, Windstream, CenturyLink) refusal to upgrade aging DSL users at any real scale, resulting in a slow but steady exodus as users flee to cable to obtain the The mess the US is in goes back to the break up ATT, and possibly further.



The RBOC's and other ILEC were in the cat bird seat, and BLEW IT! They could have taken their already wired to practically every one position and just blown the MSO's out of the water in the early days of @Home etc..



INSTEAD they chose to just let the MSO's develop things, and DO NOTHING In most cases to some DSL, and some fiber. When VZ started to get its act togehter and try to right the ship, Gordon Gecko's just backed up and ran into the iceberg again!



I honestly believe had ISDN been pushed harder by ATT in the 70's we would see ubiquitous HSD to everyone via ATT. WHY Well starting with a DIGITAL LINE to the premises in the 70's... then upgrade from there...128K in the 70's compared to what most were getting 110 or 300 or even if you were lucky 1200 baud! 2400 baud was not that old into the early 80's! I had a 2400 baud for QLink..



The ILEC/RBOC's blew their chance, they had everything there and all they had to do was continue to ugprade. They chose not to! Now we have this mess. The mess the US is in goes back to the break up ATT, and possibly further.The RBOC's and other ILEC were in the cat bird seat, and BLEW IT! They could have taken their already wired to practically every one position and just blown the MSO's out of the water in the early days of @Home etc..INSTEAD they chose to just let the MSO's develop things, and DO NOTHING In most cases to some DSL, and some fiber. When VZ started to get its act togehter and try to right the ship, Gordon Gecko's just backed up and ran into the iceberg again!I honestly believe had ISDN been pushed harder by ATT in the 70's we would see ubiquitous HSD to everyone via ATT. WHY Well starting with a DIGITAL LINE to the premises in the 70's... then upgrade from there...128K in the 70's compared to what most were getting 110 or 300 or even if you were lucky 1200 baud! 2400 baud was not that old into the early 80's! I had a 2400 baud for QLink..The ILEC/RBOC's blew their chance, they had everything there and all they had to do was continue to ugprade. They chose not to! Now we have this mess. fredbisard

join:2018-02-15

united state 5 recommendations fredbisard Member who got paid?



i'd sure like to find a job like that



with basically no other choice, how could they NOT be dominating? who got paid to come to the conclusion that cable companies dominate u.s. broadband?i'd sure like to find a job like thatwith basically no other choice, how could they NOT be dominating?

tshirt

Premium Member

join:2004-07-11

Snohomish, WA 4 recommendations tshirt Premium Member Where did they come from? Might we guess these are some of the CATV/former double play customers declared LOST on the CATV side last month, reappearing as NEW customers?

newly affluent among the recent hiring trend?

800k is not a small number.