• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 5, 2003

High-Speed Internet Growth

The latest Research Notes from the Leichtman Research Group, released as a PDF report, show that in the second quarter of 2003 the major US cable and DSL providers added a combined total of 1.55 million high-speed Internet subscribers. At the end of the second quarter of 2003, the leading cable and DSL providers in the United States accounted for nearly 20.7 million high-speed Internet subscribers. However, every cable provider reported smaller net high-speed Internet growth in the second quarter than in the first quarter of 2003.

Other key findings include:

- DSL had a greater share of the net additions than in previous quarters.

- The top cable operators maintain a 64% share of the overall market versus DSL

- SBC was the only provider to report significantly more net additions this quarter than in the previous quarter.

- The top cable operators maintain a 64% share of the overall market versus DSL and now account for over 13.2 million high-speed Internet subscribers.

With the addition of over 1.5 million net new subscribers in the second quarter of 2003, high-speed Internet remains a very healthy business. Leichtman concludes that, while caution should be shown in making major assumptions based on the quarterly figures, changes from previous quarters should be watched closely to see if these results become trends.

Top Broadband Internet Providers in the U.S. (Q2 2003)

Provider	Subscribers at end of Q2	Net Adds in Q2
Cable
Comcast	4,388,300	350,900
Time Warner	2,856,000	170,000
Cox	1,674,835	112,452
Charter	1,349,000	76,700
Cablevision	921,105	68,270
Adelphia	781,000	69,264
Bright House Networks*	560,000	30,000
Mediacom	234,000	20,000
RCN	184,265	10,875
Insight	179,500	10,140
Cable One	106,600	10,800
Total Top Cable	13,234,605	929,401
DSL
SBC	2,774,000	304,000
Verizon	1,931,000	101,000
Bell South	1,225,000	103,000
Qwest	560,000	9,000
Covad	453,000	36,000
Sprint	223,000	38,000
ALLTEL	105,178	17,178
Cincinnati Bell	87,000	4,000
CenturyTel	68.000	8,000
Total Top DSL	7,426,178	620,178
Total Broadband	20,660,783	1,549,579

Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, Inc.
* estimates.