DURHAM, N.H.—Leichtman Research Group (LRG) is reporting that fixed wireless broadband providers gained market share in Q2, 2022, with 800,000 net ads while the largest cable operators lost 60,000 broadband subs and the top wireless phone companies lost 85,000 subs.
Overall, the largest cable, wireline phone providers and fixed wireless services in the U.S. acquired about 670,000 net additional broadband Internet subscribers in Q2 2022, compared to a pro forma gain of about 1,000,000 subscribers in Q2 2021.
The top broadband providers covered by the report serve about 96% of the broadband market, LRG said.
The figures highlight a slowdown in new broadband subs for cable operators following the large sub growth they reported during the height of the pandemic.
“Top broadband providers added about 670,000 subscribers in Q2 2022, reflecting over 800,000 net adds for fixed wireless services, along with modest net losses for cable and wireline phone providers,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Over the past year, there were about 3,260,000 net broadband adds, with fixed wireless services accounting for 56% of them.”
Overall, the top broadband providers account for about 110 million subscribers, with top cable companies having about 75.6 million broadband subscribers, top wireline phone companies having about 32.2 million subscribers, and top fixed wireless services having about 2.2 million subscribers.
Other key findings include:
- Overall, broadband additions in Q2 2022 were 67% of those in Q2 2021.
- The top cable companies lost about 60,000 subscribers in Q2 2022 – compared to about 840,000 net adds in Q2 2021.
- The top wireline phone companies lost about 85,000 total broadband subscribers in Q2 2022 – compared to about 50,000 net adds in Q2 2021.
- Wireline Telcos had about 490,000 net adds via fiber in Q2 2022, and about 575,000 non-fiber net losses.
- Fixed wireless/5G home Internet services from T-Mobile and Verizon added about 815,000 subscribers in Q2 2022 – compared to about 120,000 net adds in Q2 2021.
