• by August 18, 2004

Today, Nielsen//NetRatings reports that U.S. broadband penetration nudged past the 50 percent mark. The Internet audience measurement service reports that at-home broadband access hit 51 percent in July versus 38 percent last July. That's a pretty staggering percentage increase.

Nielsen's data finds that 63 million Web users connected to the Internet via a broadband connection during the month of July. But get this--61.3 million accessed the Web using dial-up connections in July. Nielsen finds that broadband usage increased 47 percent year-over-year, while dial-up dropped 13 percent. By the way, broadband connections, as defined by Nielsen, include those made possible via ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), cable modem, and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) technologies.

But growth is slowing, according to a report released yesterday by Leichtman Research. The research firm reports that growth in high-speed Internet services slowed in the second quarter.

"There are now close to 30 million households with broadband, and that's a pretty robust number," Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research, told Reuters. "It's not that the market is saturated, but clearly we've gone well past the low-hanging fruit."

Leichtman Research reports that 20 of the largest U.S. broadband carriers added 1.7 million subscribers during the second quarter-that's the lowest number in a year. The 20 largest companies have racked up 28.6 million high-speed Internet users, while the nine largest phone companies added 895,336 broadband customers, Leichtman Research says. The top 11 cable companies added 830,791 broadband customers, their lowest tally since the fourth quarter of 2001.

But the real question is: Will at least some of the more than 60 million dial-up Internet users upgrade to high-speed Internet service within the next year? I am thinking of people like my parents, who continue to survive on a pokey dial-up connection that ties up their phone line. (I always know when they're online because I can safely say neither of them would spend THAT much time talking to anyone).

A few additional morsels from Nielsen:

Broadband penetration rated highest among those between ages two and 34, versus those 35 and older.

Eighteen- to 20-year-olds had the highest penetration of broadband surfers at 59 percent, followed by kids (58 percent), 25- to 34-year-olds (55 percent), teens, and 21- to 24-year-olds (both 53 percent).

Surprise, surprise: Senior citizens ages 65 to 99 (yes, 99), had the lowest broadband penetration at 34 percent.