In U.S., Demand for Broadband Is Back

Whether it’s needed for Wi-Fi for your iPhone ( s aapl) or you simply like to watch streaming Netflix (s NFLX), the demand for broadband connections was on an upswing according to research firm the Leichtman Group.  During the third quarter of 2010, top U.S. cable and phone companies added about 818,000 new connections, up sharply from a mere 350,000 connections added during the second quarter of 2010.

From 2008 through the early part of the year, the demand for new broadband connections softened, in tandem with the softening economy, job losses and the housing crisis. While the overall economy remains in dire straits, there’s an upswing in demand for broadband. So far this year, top broadband providers in the U.S. have added over 2.55 million broadband connections, bringing the total U.S. broadband subscribers to about 25 million.  In comparison, nearly 3.2 million broadband subscribers were added during the first three quarters of 2009.

Comcast (s CMCSA) has about 16.7 million subscribers and added 249,000 new customers to its roster. AT&T (s T) is the largest phone company with 16.1 million broadband subscribers, and it added 148,000 new broadband subscribers during the most recent quarter.

From the Leichtman Research Group press release:

• The top cable companies added over 525,000 subscribers, representing 64 percent of the net broadband additions for the quarter versus the top telephone companies
• The top cable broadband providers have a 55-percent share of the overall market, with a 7.8 million subscriber advantage over the top telephone companies  – compared to 6.6 million a year ago

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