AT&T (NYSE: T), CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and other telcos collectively added just 65,893 broadband subscribers in the first quarter as customers churned to cable operators that can offer higher speeds, particularly in areas where slower speed DSL is the only available broadband service.
This is the second quarter where telcos lost ground to cable in the broadband race. By comparison, the wireline community overall lost 185,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2015.
According to Leichtman Research Group, there were a total of 3.03 million net broadband adds in the 12 months to the end of March, up slightly on 3 million a year earlier.