U.S. broadband subscriber adds in the second quarter of 2021, while not as robust as seen during the same quarter of last year, continued to be strong, according to Kagan, a media research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence. Broadband service providers attracted approximately 945,000 new subscribers during the quarter, a figure that far outstripped performance from the second quarter 2019.
Combined residential cable, telco, and satellite broadband subscribers in the U.S. exceeded 109.2 million at the end of the second quarter. This figure is an increase of 4.3% annually, with nearly 4.5 million net adds year over year, according to Kagan. Total U.S. wireline broadband residential penetration grew to more than 83% by the end of the quarter – 84.5% if satellite-based broadband services are included.
However, it wasn’t necessarily a good quarter for satellite-based broadband providers, as this segment lost 24,000 U.S. subscribers during the quarter, even as Starlink began to establish early momentum. On the other hand, cable operators ended the quarter in a good mood. The cable MSOs enjoyed 1.9 million residential and commercial net adds during the first two quarters of 2021, accounting for 96% of broadband customer gains across the U.S. broadband market during that time. Meanwhile enthusiasm for FTTH upgrades enabled telco wireline broadband net adds to flourish, albeit at relative magnitudes compared with cable. Telco performance showed what Kagen called “a dramatic improvement” over the space’s second quarter track record since 2016.
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