2023 was a breakout year for 5G Home Internet providers led by T-Mobile and Verizon. Now, according to a report from the Leichtman Research Group, these two companies alone added more than 3.6 million new 5G Home Internet customers in 2023.
This comes as the top cable TV companies, including Comcast, lost over 63,000 Internet customers. Traditional telecom companies like AT&T also reported losing more than 80,000 Internet customers.
What is cord cutting 2.0? Cord cutting 1.0 was cutting the cord on cable TV. In 2024, cord cutting 2.0 is about cutting the cord on expensive home Internet and getting new, less expensive options.
Cable broadband providers like Comcast and Spectrum are facing new competition not only from 5G home Internet services but also from fiber, fixed wireless access service providers, satellite services, and more. For the first time ever, Americans have options for home Internet, and they are starting to cut the Internet cord.
This new access to more Internet service options has made it possible to completely break free from cable TV companies: Not only from the TV service but also from the Internet service.
New providers are not the only factor contributing to subscriber losses. Pricing is heavily factored into peoples’ decisions on whether to switch providers.
AT&T has also launched 5G home Internet services in 2023 to bring home Internet options to Americans who have not had options in the past.
Much like in the early days of cord cutting 1.0, the growth of 2.0 is slow right now. We are waiting for more providers to join the market. Amazon announced plans to start offering home Internet next year. Other providers are quickly building out new kinds of Internet to give Americans options.
Now as we move farther into 2024, cord cutting 2.0 is poised for rapid growth as Spectrum—one of the few cable TV companies to still be adding new Internet customers in 2023—ended the year by losing subscribers in the fourth quarter 2023.
Over the next five years, cable providers will have to deal with a growing number of competitors in a business that was once seen as their safe bet to fight cord cutting. Internet is the front line of the next generation of cord cutting.
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