Comcast and Time Warner Cable Garnered 71% of Net New Internet Access Accounts Over the Last Year

Just two U.S. Internet service providers--Comcast and Time Warner Cable--got 71 percent of the three million net new high speed Internet access subscribers added in the U.S. market over the last year, according to Strategy Analytics.

In the third quarter of 2015, Comcast and Time Warner Cable led the growth in U.S. high speed Internet access subscriptions, adding 552,000 net new subscribers.  

In the third quarter, AT&T lost a net 106,000 subscribers and Verizon added only 2,000. The problems for those carriers is two-fold. Gains powered by fiber access services (FiOS and U-verse) grew, but both service providers lost digital subscriber line accounts.

In the third quarter average revenue per account grew between two percent and seven percent.

High Speed Internet Access ARPU, 3Q14 to 3Q15
	3Q14	4Q14	1Q14	2Q15	3Q15	Y-o-Y %
AT&T	$44.04	$44.13	$44.69	$45.42	$46.48	5.5%
CenturyLink	$33.87	n/a	n/a	n/a	$36.13	6.7%
Charter	$46.62	$46.86	$48.87	$49.92	$49.88	7.0%
Comcast	$43.86	$44.20	$45.36	$45.84	$45.61	4.0%
Time Warner Cable	$47.24	$47.30	$47.82	$48.04	$48.17	2.0%
source: Strategy Analytics

Separately, Leichtman Research Group reports that U.S. cable TV companies accounted for all the net growth in high speed Internet access connections in the third quarter, adding about 788,000 net accounts. U.S. telcos lost a net 143,000 accounts in the third quarter.

AT&T had a negative net rate of growth for its Internet access services in the third quarter of 2015, adding U-verse connections but losing copper connections, as has been the case for some years. Verizon added about 2,000 net connections, according to Leichtman Research Group.

CenturyLink and Windstream also lost customers, on a net basis, in the third quarter.

Collectively, the top U.S. cable TV companies have 61 percent of the installed base of customers, while the top telcos have about 39 percent of the installed base. Cable TV companies have steadily gained share in the high speed access market over the past several years.

The 17 largest cable TV and telephone providers in the United States, representing about 94 percent of the market, acquired about 645,000 net additional high speed Internet access  subscribers in the third quarter of 2015.