DSL Gains Subscribers At A Cost According to Parks Associates' Broadband Market Updates: Beyond Bandwidth, DSL service providers have reversed their fortunes in new
subscribers, averaging in the past 12 months 200,000 more new accounts per quarter than their cable counterparts, but they have sacrificed revenues to do so.
The report found that
starting in the second quarter of 2005, DSL service providers averaged 1.4 million new subscribers over a period of four quarters, while cable providers averaged 1.2 million new subscribers. This
finding reverses the trend from the previous four quarters, when cable operators led new-subscriber growth by the same margin of 200,000.
Average Quarterly New Subscription Additions and Revenue Per User |
| Additions Q2 2004-Q1
2005 | Additions Q2 2005-Q1 2006 | Average Revenue Per Subscriber Q1 2006 |
DSL | 0.9 |
1.4 | $34 |
Cable | 1.1 | 1.2 | $41 |
Source: Parks Associates, 2006 |
According to the report, the ARPU (average revenue per user) for DSL services was $34 in the first quarter of 2006, compared with $41 for cable modem
services. The highest variance was $18, between the DSL service provider with the lowest ARPU and the cable operator with the highest ARPU.
Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai, director of broadband
and gaming at Parks Associates, said "For the next few quarters, DSL service providers will continue to lead in new-subscriber growth. Our Q1 2006 consumer data show that among people intending to
subscribe to broadband, 48% prefer DSL services and only 18% prefer cable modem services..."
For
more on this report, find Parks here.