Cable Added 511,000 Broadband Subscribers Q2 At Telcos' Expense, Leichtman Research Group Finds

Large cable companies added 511,757 broadband subscribers and telcos lost 151,478 in Q2, continuing cable gains that have accounted for 95 percent of the roughly 3 million net (wireline) high-speed Internet additions over the last year, Leichtman Research Group said Tuesday in a news release. LRG said the cable net gain was 38 percent higher than in Q2 2014 while the telco net loss was higher than in any previous quarter, four of the past six of which have been losses. The 10 cable companies and seven telcos reviewed have about 94 percent of the market; at the end of Q2 2015, cable had 53.5 million subscribers and telcos had 35.4 million (a 60-40 cable-telco wireline market split), said LRG. Leading cable last quarter was Time Warner Cable, which added 189,000 subscribers, followed by Comcast's 179,000 adds, Charter Communications' 86,000, Cablevision's 14,000, Mediacom's 10,000 and Cable One's 457, while Bright House Networks and Cox Communications were estimated by LRG to have added 45,000 between them. WideOpenWest lost 8,900 subscribers and Suddenlink lost 2,800, Leichtman said. Comcast had 22.5 million broadband subscribers at quarter's end followed by TWC's 12.8 million, Charter's 5.3 million, Cablevision's 2.8 million, Suddenlink's 1.2 million and Mediacom's 1.1 million, with BHN and Cox estimated to have 6.6 million between them. AT&T and Verizon added 313,000 U-verse and FiOS high-speed Internet subscribers, respectively, in Q2 2015, while losing 474,000 net DSL subscribers combined, said LRG. It said U-verse and FiOS customers now are 56 percent of telco broadband subscribers, up from 42 percent two years ago. Overall, AT&T lost 136,000 net broadband subscribers, followed by Verizon's 25,000 in losses, Windstream's 11,600, CenturyLink's 9,000 and FairPoint's 1,278, while Frontier Communications added 29,000, and Cincinnati Bell added 2,400, said the industry research firm. AT&T had almost 16 million landline broadband subscribers at quarter's end, followed by Verizon's 9.2 million, CenturyLink's 6.1 million, Frontier's 2.4 million, Windstream's 1.1 million, FairPoint's 317,100 and Cincinnati Bell's 275,100.