Fueled by weekly installations numbering 119,000, North American service
providers count roughly 9.3 million residential broadband Internet subscribers,
said Kinetic Strategies Inc., publisher of Cable Datacom News.
In terms of subscribers, Kinetic said, cable is still a step ahead of digital
subscriber line with a 70 percent market share, equivalent to about 6.4 million
residential customers versus DSL's 2.9 million.
Kinetic said there were 7.6 million residential broadband Internet
subscribers as of June 1, with about 1.7 million of that figure based in Canada,
where the broadband-penetration rate is double that in the United States.
North American MSOs added a relatively flat 1 million high-speed subscribers
in the first quarter versus the fourth quarter of 2000.
Residential DSL providers, which recorded about 560,148 adds in the first
quarter, saw a 5 percent dip versus the previous period thanks in part to price
hikes by providers such as SBC Communications Inc. and EarthLink Network Inc.
However, AT&T Broadband and Charter Communications Inc. have also raised
cable-modem-service fees in some markets.
Kinetic president Michael Harris is expected to present these findings in
more detail June 12 during the National Show.
