The eighteen largest cable and telephone providers in the US, representing about 93 percent of the market, acquired about 350,000 net additional high-speed internet subscribers in the second quarter, according to a study by Leichtman Research Group. Net broadband additions in the quarter were the second fewest of any quarter in the ten years of report. Overall, broadband additions in Q2 amounted to 108 percent of those in Q2 2010. The top cable companies accounted for 77 percent of the net broadband additions for the quarter versus the top telephone companies. The top phone companies added about 80,000 subscribers during the quarter, compared to a net loss of 10,000 subscribers in Q2 2010. AT&T and Verizon added 628,000 fibre subscribers in the quarter (via U-verse and Fios), while having a net loss of 578,000 DSL subscribers. The top cable companies added over 270,000 broadband subscribers in the quarter, about 81 percent of the additions during the same quarter of a year ago. The top cable broadband providers have a 56 percent share of the overall market, with 8.9 million more subscribers than the top telephone companies, compared to 7.85 million this time a year ago. The second quarter is traditionally the slowest of the year for industry growth. Net broadband additions in Q2 were over 900,000 less than in Q1, but slightly higher than last year's second quarter. Over the past year, the top broadband providers have added 3.3 million subscribers, about 91 percent of the net additions over the prior year.
