With the pace of broadband subscribers slowing, the top 14 U.S. cable operators and telcos, representing 95% of the market, acquired about 2.1 million net high-speed internet customers in 2017, about 78% of the 2.7 million net adds in 2016, according to Leitchman Research Group (LRG).
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The nation’s largest cable operators still took more than their fair share, adding 2.7 million broadband subs in 2017 – representing 83% of their take in 2016 – and offsetting a loss of about 625,000 subs among the top telcos, which continue to shed DSL customers (those top telcos lost about 600,000 subs in 2016).
The top broadband providers covered by LRG in the report account for nearly 95.1 million subs, with cable representing 61.2 million of that total.
“The top broadband providers in the US added nearly 4.8 million net broadband subscribers over the past two years,” Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, said in a statement. “The top cable companies accounted for 130% of the net broadband additions in 2017, following 122% of the net adds in 2016.”
