Broadband Use Seen Rising
By REUTERS
Published: March 15, 2004
nytimes.com
Filed at 2:42 a.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Remember all the dot-coms -- Pop.com, Z.com, Pseudo.com -- that offered entertainment? After going belly-up, a primary excuse offered, almost without fail, by their former CEOs was that not enough Americans had broadband Internet in their homes.
That's one excuse that's off the table should there ever be a rebound in the sector -- if a couple of just-released studies are accurate.
One, from Leichtman Research Group, says that 2003 was the biggest year ever for broadband adoption, with 7.3 million additional Americans logging on. Another, from ComScore Networks, says San Diego has become the first major U.S. city to boast more broadband than dial-up Internet users.
ComScore says 52% of San Diego's online population now surfs via broadband, while Boston is at 50% and New York is at 49%. Los Angeles, at 44%, is No. 10 on the list of cities with the largest broadband penetration. The national average is 36%.
ComScore also says 63% of broadband subscribers in the United States use cable connections, while about 37% use DSL. But Leichtman notes that in the fourth quarter of last year, DSL accounted for 45% of new broadband additions, suggesting that cable operators might face stiffer competition from DSL down the road.
At the end of the year there were 24.6 million broadband subscribers in the United States, Leichtman says.
Dee Jay |
