Broadband growth falls sharply in the U.S.

After years of breakneck growth, U.S. broadband is in slowdown mode. During the second quarter of 2009, U.S. service providers added less than 650,000 new accounts, down more than 50 percent from 1.6 million additions in the first quarter. (Stats below the fold.)

To be fair, the second quarter is seasonally the slowest for the U.S. broadband industry, but overall subscriber gains are down 28 percent from last year’s 887,000 net new additions as well. So far, the U.S. has added about 2.25 million new subscribers in 2009, down about 27 percent from 3.1 million additions during the first two quarters. At this rate, the U.S. will add significantly fewer subscribers during 2009 vs. 5.4 million in 2008...