Telco broadband growth slowed in the third quarter, with the largest operators seeing just 38 percent of the growth they saw a year ago, according to new research. Cable growth was 98 percent of what the segment saw a year ago.
AT&T (NYSE: T) remained the largest broadband provider among telcos, with 16.5 million subscribers to its Internet service, trailing Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), which has the most Internet connections in the U.S., some 17.8 million; Verizon (NYSE: VZ) counts 8.6 million Internet users, according to Leichtman Research Group.
Overall, the 18 largest cable and telco operators combined to add 635,000 users in the quarter, with cable responsible for 83 percent of that total.
"Over the first three quarters of 2011, the top broadband providers added nearly 2.3 million subscribers, compared to 2.6 million subscribers added in the first three quarters of 2010," said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG.
AT&T and Verizon, according to LRG, added 642,000 fiber subscribers in the quarter to their U-verse and FiOS services; during the quarter, they saw a net loss of 619,000 DSL subscribers.
For more:
- see this MCN article
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