While not too surprising given a saturated market and the financial situation, the latest numbers from Leichtman Research indicate that the 5.4 million new broadband subscribers in 2008 were down from 8.5 million in 2007, and a peak of 10.4 million in 2006. It was a good year for cable companies, who added 59% (3.2 million) of all broadband additions in 2008, while phone companies added 2.2 million -- something largely driven by faster cable speeds and cable's success selling a true triple play (VoIP for the win).

It's interesting to note that while cable dominated the year, phone companies added 570,000 subscribers to cable's 460,000 in the fourth quarter, suggesting a boom in telco subscriber additions thanks to investment in Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse. If growth patterns had maintained course through the fourth quarter, Comcast would have surpassed AT&T as the nation's largest broadband carrier. Instead, in large part thanks to a boost in U-Verse subscribers, AT&T ended the year with 15,077,000 subscribers to Comcast's 14,929,000.

Phone company network infrastructure upgrades, which many telecom investors spent the last few years whining about incessantly, are the primary reason for that reversal of fortune. They're also a major reason why AT&T and Verizon are weathering the recession, despite some predictions to the contrary. Next up for the phone industry: attempting to battle the phenomenal success the cable industry has had with VoIP. Both AT&T and Verizon have major new VoIP plans in the pipeline for 2009.

As for you consumers, you can expect an increased push this year toward metered billing models, as investors look for ways to grow revenues to counter slower subscriber growth.