Broadband in the US: 'We already have it, thanks'

Americans are no longer in any hurry to sign up for broadband, presumably because more than half of the country already has a high-speed internet service.

The number of new subscribers for the US's largest 20 DSL and cable providers - which make up 95 per cent of the market - totalled 1.7 million in the second quarter of 2004, according to the Leichtman Research Group. That's the lowest figure of any quarter over the past year.

Each of the top 20 saw lower subscriber growth compared to last quarter.

As for connection technologies, DSL took the lead in new customers against cable for the first time. The top cable companies signed up 830,000 new subscribers, the lowest level since the end of 2001, while DSL providers squeaked ahead with 895,000 additions for the quarter.

Overall, though, cable is still king in the US as it holds 61 per cent market share over DSL.

So does everyone who wants broadband have it? Not quite, but penetration has passed the halfway mark.

As of July 2004, 51 per cent of Americans have broadband at home according to recent numbers from Nielsen//NetRatings.

That's 47 per cent higher than the same month last year.

By comparison, narrowband connections, including dial-up, dropped 13 per cent annually.

The US and the UK appear to be experiencing the same phenomenon - the growth of broadband and the decline of narrowband, while the total number of internet subscribers remains fairly steady.

In the UK, the number of broadband connections has nearly doubled in the past year as dial-up connections fell by 10 per cent.