Top Cable Operators Dominate Broadband in 2016

The nation’s largest cable operators again took the lion’s share of broadband subscriber adds in 2016, according to a new analysis from Leichtman Research Group. The top cable companies added 3.3 million broadband subscribers in 2016, the most net adds in any year since 2007, while the top telecommunication companies lost about 600,000 high-speed Internet customers in 2016, widened from a loss of 185,000 in 2015, LRG said. Cable’s dominance continues to deepen, as the top cable companies netted 122% of broadband adds in 2016, versus 106% in 2015, and 89% in 2014. From a broader view, the top 14 cable and telecommunication providers in the US, representing 95% of the market, added 2.7 million net additional high-speed Internet subs in 2016, down from 3.1 million net adds in 2015, LRG said.