The 19 largest cable and telephone providers in the U.S., representing around 93% of the market, acquired nearly 1.3 million additional high-speed Internet subscribers in the first quarter of '11, according to data compiled by the Leichtman Research Group. These top broadband providers now account for 76.6 million subscribers, with cable companies having 42.6 million broadband subscribers and telephone companies having almost 34 million. Comcast added 418,000 broadband subscribers in the first quarter, marking the most in any quarter since Q1 '08. Net broadband additions in Q1 were also over 430,000 more than in the final quarter last year, and the most since Q1 last year. Listed below are the top broadband Internet providers and their subscribers at the end of Q1 (Leichtman Research Group).
BROADBAND INTERNET PROVIDER | SUBSCRIBERS (END OF Q1 '11) | NET SUBSCRIBER ADDS (Q1 '11) |
CABLE COMPANIES |
Comcast | 17,406,000 | 418,000 |
Time Warner | 9,992,000 | 189,000 |
Cox* | 4,400,000 | 30,000 |
Charter | 3,334,000 | 87,900 |
Cablevision | 2,927,000 | 32,000 |
Suddenlink | 857,100 | 30,800 |
Insight | 535,700 | 11,200 |
Cable ONE | 440,215 | 14,813 |
Other Major Private Cable Companies** | 2,247,000 | 39,000 |
TOTAL TOP CABLE | 42,639,015 | 852,713 |
TELEPHONE COMPANIES |
AT&T | 16,485,000 | 175,000 |
Verizon | 8,490,000 | 98,000 |
Qwest^ | 2,965,000 | 51,000 |
CenturyLink^ | 2,446,000 | 52,000 |
Windstream | 1,707,678 | 10,511 |
Frontier | 1,331,700 | 28,800 |
FairPoint | 297,491 | 7,746 |
Cincinnati Bell | 258,500 | 2,400 |
TOTAL TOP TELCOS | 33,981,369 | 425,457 |
NOTES: Company subscriber counts may not represent solely residential households. Totals reflect pro forma results from system sales and acquisitions. * = Leichtman estimate. ** = Includes Leichtman estimates for Bright House Networks, Mediacom, and RCN. ^ = CenturyLink acquired Qwest on April 1.