Broadband adoption set to surge.
More than 30 million US households will have a
broadband connection to the Internet by the end of this year.
The number of US homes with a broadband
connection is likely to grow by 8.5 million, to 33.5 million,
households by the end of 2004, according to new data released on
Thursday.
That would put broadband access in about 31
percent of all households and in 44 percent of homes with PCs
and Internet access, a report by market researcher Strategy
Analytics showed. Cable modems will account for 5.2 million of
the new broadband connections, while 2.9 million households will
add DSL (digital subscriber line) service, the research firm
said.
Lower prices and branded content have helped DSL
attract first-time customers who are switching from dial-up to
broadband. But cable companies continue to dominate in selling
broadband in the United States, luring consumers with higher
access speeds, multiservice bundles and video-on-demand.
The triple combination of video, data and
telephony being offered by cable companies like Time Warner
Cable, Comcast and Cox Communications is compelling to customers
seeking simplicity and savings, Strategy Analytics said. But
telecom companies can keep pace by nabbing their own deals and
postponing costly strategies like fibre rollouts.
"Regional phone companies, like SBC and Verizon,
must make the most of their partnerships with satellite TV
operators," James Penhune, director at Strategy Analytics, said
in a statement. "Previous telco-satellite partnerships often
failed to produce the simplicity and reliability that bundling
is meant to deliver."
