Dallas, TX–Less than one-third of U.S. households with dial-up Internet service are interested in upgrading in the next 12 months, suggesting a significant decline in potential broadband subscribers over the past year.
According to Parks Associates’ new research, “Trends in U.S. Broadband Adoption,” almost one-half of dial-up subscribers were inclined to upgrade to broadband at year-end 2002. But given the declining interest in broadband, 2004 may fall short of the 50 percent gain in broadband households experienced in 2003, unless service providers offer more enticing benefits such as dramatic price decreases or novel bundled service offerings.
“Continued growth in residential broadband requires an ever-increasing number of dial-up households jumping ship to higher-priced, higher-bandwidth offerings,” said Parks Associates vice president of research and strategy, Michael Greeson. “But interest in upgrading to broadband seems to have peaked in Q4 2002 at around 50 percent, a level of interest that translated into hefty subscriber additions during 2003. As interest in upgrading declines, broadband service providers must reinvent the broadband market message, significantly lower what they charge for service, or offer some unique combination of these two strategies.”
For more information, visit www.parksassociates.com.
