Broadband Additions Hit a New Low in the US

Cable and telephone companies added a scant 336,000 net broadband subscriptions during the second quarter, according to the Leichtman Research Group: the lowest amount in the nine years that the analyst firm has tracked such additions.

This isn't a surprise, as the broadband market is mature, with most homes who want it already signed up for it. The holdouts attribute their reluctance to zip down the information super highway to affordability, disinterest or an inability to get service. If the U.S. wants more folks to get broadband (and the president and the FCC do), prices will need to drop for the access and the equipment, disinterested parties will have to find a reason to subscribe, and the government or ISPs will have to expand broadband availability for the rest of the country. The data also underscores how telcos are losing broadband subscribers to cable companies.