The top cable operators lost more high-speed internet users than they gained in 2023, the first time that's ever happened, Leichtman Research Group confirmed to Next TV.
The top cable operators collectively lost more than 63,000 wireline broadband users last year (vs. a collective addition of 530,000 customers in 2022), LRG said, while fast-emerging fixed wireless access operators T-Mobile and Verizon jointly added 3.666 million FWA customers (vs. 3.185 million in 2022).
FWA accounted for all the growth in the home broadband business in 2023, with total customer ranks expanding by more than 3.522 million users (vs. 3.506 million in 2022).
“Top broadband providers added about 3.5 million subscribers in 2023, similar to the number of broadband adds in 2022,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc., in a statement. “Over the past four years, top providers added about 15.9 million broadband subscribers, compared to about 10.2 million net broadband adds in the prior four (pre-pandemic) years.”