* Cable modem access providers attract new customers
Despite the troubled economy many users are still opting for high-speed access over considerably cheaper dial-up services.
Cable modem Internet access providers such as Comcast and Time Warner were able to sign-up hundreds of thousands of new subscribers in the first quarter alone. Comcast signed 417,000 new customers while Time Warner attracted 260,000 new subscribers in the first quarter of this year.
This information was reported in a new study from Information Gatekeepers (IGI) an group that analyzes the telecommunications industry.
The report shows that at the end of 2002 Comcast had a commanding lead with 3.64 million cable modem customers, which includes the subscribers from its acquisition of AT&T Broadband. Time Warner reported 2.5 million customers, Cox Communications 1.4 million and Charter boasted 1.14 million cable modem Internet access customers at the end of 2002, with all reporting significant growth in the first quarter of 2003.
Growth in high-speed Internet access services is not exclusive to the cable industry, but the total number of DSL subscribes is still far less then cable modem subscribers.
In the first quarter SBC added 270,000 high-speed users to its network and Verizon added 160,000. SBC and Verizon showed the largest quarterly increase of all of the local exchange carriers and also have the largest DSL subscriber base.
At the end of 2002 SBC reported 2.2 million DSL users, Verizon 1.8 million, BellSouth 1 million and Qwest 535,000 high-speed users reported at the end of last year.
For more information on this and other industry reports check out http://www.igigroup.com
