Companies that provide Internet access services have begun releasing their earnings reports for the latest quarter. There are subscriber figures and other data from selected Internet service providers.
— Oct. 18: Verizon Communications Inc. posted the first decline in overall broadband customers in four years, as it stopped marketing DSL connections to customers who don’t also buy phone service. DSL connections are slower than cable modems, and Verizon has stopped investing in the technology, focusing instead on fiber-optic FiOS connections available in about two-thirds of the areas where it provides local phone service. Verizon added 136,000 FiOS Internet subscribers to end the quarter with 5.3 million. Verizon lost 8,000 broadband connections overall, ending with 8.8 million.
