The total number of U.S. broadband subscribers increased by over 700,000 in the third quarter of 2014.
The 17 biggest broadband providers now account for 86.6 million subscribers. The cable companies among them claim over 51.2 million of the total; top telephone companies have nearly 35.4 million Internet subscribers. Cable added to its lead in the quarter.
The numbers are from Leichtman Research Group. LRG tracks the seventeen largest cable and telephone providers in the U.S., which represent about 94 percent of the market.
Other data points from the third quarter :
- Overall, broadband additions in Q3 2014 amounted to 135 percent of those in 3Q 2013.
- Cable companies and telcos both added more subscribers compared to the similar quarter a year ago.
- The top cable companies continue to claim the majority of the growth. In the most recent quarter, MSOs accounted for for 580,000 subscriber adds, or 83 percent of the net total.
- Through the year to date, the broadband industry gained about 2.9 million additional customers. That compares to about 2.5 in 2013, and 2.9 million two years ago.
“Despite there being 86.6 million broadband subscribers in the U.S. via major cable and telco providers, the industry has added subscribers at a faster pace over the past year than it did over the prior year,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG.
