The top U.S. cable operators added 3.2 million broadband subscribers in 2008 – 77 percent of the total net additions for cable ops in 2007 – which compares with the 2.2 million broadband subscribers that the top U.S. telcos garnered in 2008 – only 50 percent of the total net additions for the top telcos in the prior year.

The top cable operators netted 59 percent of the 2008 additions.

Total net broadband additions in 2008 were just 63 percent of the total in 2007, according to Leichtman Research Group (LRG), and were the fewest additions in the seven years that LRG has tracked the broadband industry.

In the fourth quarter, cable and telephone providers added more than 1 million broadband subscribers – with telephone companies adding about 570,000 subscribers and cable ops adding about 460,000.

The 20 largest cable and telephone providers in the U.S. represent about 94 percent of the market. The top broadband providers now account for nearly 67.7 million subscribers – with cable companies having 36.9 million broadband subscribers and telephone companies having 30.7 million subscribers, according to LRG.

“The total number of broadband subscribers in the U.S. doubled in the past four years, growing to nearly 68 million at the end of 2008,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG. “With increased market penetration, growth inevitably had to slow, but there was still room for 5.4 million more broadband subscribers in 2008.”