Cable's broadband count will increase by additional 3.4M subs in 2016, says research firm

Cable is on track to add another 3.4 million broadband subscribers in 2016, and will continue to take market share away from the receding telco sector, Evercore ISI told its investors.

The financial firm predicts that all cable companies combined will add more than 1 million Internet customers in the first quarter alone, with Comcast (projected to add 380,000 HSI customers in Q1), Time Warner Cable (280,000) and Charter Communications (119,000) leading the way.

"We estimate cable continued its dominance in broadband during the quarter with Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Charter (NASDAQ: CHTR) and TWC (NYSE: TWC) adding broadband subscribers at slightly lower levels versus last year," the report said.

 

According to Evercore's tally, cable companies added a combined 3.86 million broadband subs in 2015. It predicts telco companies, including Verizon and AT&T, will lose a combined 127,000 wireline customers in 2016, up from a loss of 62,000 last year. 

AT&T, the firm added, will be the biggest wireline loser, predicted to hemorrhage 158,000 subs this year. 

Meanwhile, despite reports of resurgence for cable video services, Evercore predicts the sector will lose 866,000 pay-TV customers in 2016. A projected loss of 465,000 for Dish Network and 269,000 for the combined telco operators will place overall pay-TV customer losses at 1.16 million for 2016, Evercore added