Cable modem service appears to retain its advantage as the preferred broadband access method for 82 percent of net new customers in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the Leichtman Research Group.
The unanswered question is whether there is a pattern to the new adoptions, such as new customers disproportionately reflecting business customer purchases (either direct or reimbursable by an employer, for example).
Most of the new customers were added, as you would expect, by the 18 largest cable and telephone providers. Those 18 firms got about 93 percent of all the three million new customers.
Perhaps the more telling statistic is that just two cable companies added 72 percent of those customers in 2011. The largest four firms added 89 percent of all new broadband customers for the full year 2011.
Likewise, the top three telcos–AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink–added 84 percent of all new net telco-supplied broadband access connections for the full year. But the largest seven telcos collectively added only 750,000 net new broadband subscribers for the full year 2011.
|
Broadband Internet Provider |
Subscribers at End of 4Q 2011 |
Net Adds in 2011 |
|
Cable Companies |
||
|
Comcast |
18,147,000 |
1,159,000 |
|
Time Warner^ |
10,344,000 |
491,000 |
|
Cox* |
4,500,000 |
130,000 |
|
Charter |
3,654,600 |
252,900 |
|
Cablevision |
2,965,000 |
73,000 |
|
Suddenlink |
951,400 |
65,100 |
|
Mediacom |
851,000 |
13,000 |
|
Insight^ |
550,000 |
25,500 |
|
Cable ONE |
451,082 |
25,680 |
|
Other Major Private Cable Companies** |
1,925,000 |
55,000 |
|
Total Top Cable |
44,339,082 |
2,290,180 |
|
Telephone Companies |
||
|
AT&T |
16,427,000 |
117,000 |
|
Verizon |
8,670,000 |
278,000 |
|
CenturyLink |
5,554,000 |
238,000 |
|
Frontier^^ |
1,735,000 |
37,833 |
|
Windstream |
1,355,300 |
53,600 |
|
FairPoint |
314,135 |
24,390 |
|
Cincinnati Bell |
257,300 |
1,200 |
|
Total Top Telephone Companies |
34,312,735 |
750,023 |
|
Total Broadband |
78,651,817 |
3,040,203 |
Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, Inc.
* LRG estimate
** Includes LRG estimates for Bright House Networks, and RCN
^ Totals prior to Time Warner Cable’s acquisition of Insight completed on 2/29/2012
^^ LRG estimate does not include wireless subscribers
Company subscriber counts may not represent solely residential households
Totals reflect pro forma results from system sales and acquisitions
Top cable and telephone companies represent approximately 93% of all subscribers
