• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 28, 2005

Leichtman Research Group, Inc., in their updated report, Broadband, Cable and DBS Across the US 2005, found that at the beginning of 2005 broadband penetration of households in the US stood at close to 29% nationwide.  Significant state-by-state disparities in broadband penetration remain, however.  While these disparities are largely related to variations in household income across the states, these differences are strikingly similar to the state-by-state splits in the 2004 presidential election.

• Eight states had broadband  penetration over 35% - all voted for John Kerry in 2004
• Eleven states had broadband penetration at or below 20% - all  voted for George Bush in 2004
• Cumulative broadband penetration in states that voted for Kerry was  33% - compared to 25% in states that voted for Bush

In related broadband research, LRG found that as of the end of the second quarter of 2005, the twenty largest cable and DSL providers in the US, that represent 94% of the broadband market for cable and DSL, accounted for about 37.6 million high-speed Internet subscribers. Other key findings for the quarter include:

• Combined net additions in the second quarter of 2005 totaled 1.8 million subscribers
• The top DSL providers added  about 938,000 subscribers, representing 52% of the net broadband additions for the quarter versus cable, which added about 866,000 broadband  subscribers
• The top cable broadband providers maintain a 6.4 million subscriber  advantage over DSL, representing a 59% share of the total market versus  DSL