The U.S. ranks 15th globally,perhaps contributing to precipitous drops in broadband growth, as telco broadband providers AT&T, Verizon and Qwest see new high-speed connections plunge.While the cell phone business – with the notable exception of Motorola -- seems to be booming in the United States, the broadband business is not. Two new reports claim broadband providers suffered serious declines in new second quarter subscribers and those that already subscribe to high-speed services endure speeds well below global leaders like Japan and South Korea.
According to an Aug. 6 report by Strategy Analytics, telco broadband providers AT&T, Verizon and Qwest saw new broadband subscribers "fall precipitously" in the second quarter. AT&T, which signed up 465,000 new subscribers in the first quarter, only signed up 34,000 in the second quarter. Verizon, with 266,000 Q1 new subscribers, fell to just 54,000 new hookups in the second quarter. Qwest tumbled from 90,000 to 31,000 new subscribers.
Cable broadband providers Comcast and Time Warner fared better but still had sharp declines in new customers. Comcast signed 279,000 new subscribers in the second quarter after loading up 492,000 new customers in the first quarter. Time Warner saw new customers decline by more than 100,000, from 304,000 in the first quarter to 201,000 in Q2.
"There is a fair amount of seasonality in broadband, so a dip in the second quarter is not altogether unexpected," stated report author John Lee. "However, the magnitude of this decline suggests that the current economic environment is hampering the ability of service providers to garner new customers."
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