TWC broadband growth another blow to Bells

Cable broadband subscriber growth has been surging lately relative to the Bells. Comcast added more broadband customers in the third quarter than AT&T and Verizon combined, giving the country’s largest cable provider a shot at becoming its largest broadband provider as well by year’s end. According to Craig Moffet, senior analyst with Bernstein Research, Comcast and TWC together claimed 66% of the new broadband additions reported in the quarter by the country’s top five providers; a year ago, that number was 43%.

“As we have observed so often in the past, cable is winning the broadband battle,” Moffet wrote in a research note today. “And as goes broadband, so goes the rest of the war.”

At the same time, Moffet pointed out that telco and cable operators alike are benefitting from weakness in the satellite space. “Competitive losses of video subscribers are moderating despite the expansion of telco footprints,” he wrote. “Broadband share is rapidly rising. Prices continue to rise moderately (broadband ARPU was up 1.1% from last year). Margins are expanding. All ‘wars’ should be this gentle.”