AOL Time Warner's cable division has widened its lead over AT&T Broadband in signing high-speed Internet customers, says a new study by business-intelligence company ARS Inc.

But the two companies continue to lead their largest DSL rivals, SBC and Verizon ? and MSOs in general increased their lead over their telephone rivals in the third quarter, according to the study by La Jolla, Calif.-based ARS broadband analyst Mark Kersey.

ARS figures show Time Warner Cable leads the pack with a market share of 16.6% vs. 13.9% for AT&T, 11.9% for SBC and 9.8% for Verizon. Comcast, Cox and Charter take the next three positions, giving cable five of the top seven spots on the list.

Time Warner's total broadband-subscriber count reached 1.7 million in the third quarter, or 274,000 more than AT&T.

?Time Warner has really done a good job with their marketing, their promotions,? Kersey says. ?Every time you watch TV in one of their systems, you see a Road Runner commercial.?

Time Warner's success helped cable's high-speed business grow faster than DSL for the first time in over a year.

The five largest cable companies recorded 14% growth in the third quarter, beating out the 13% growth of the five largest DSL providers, says Kersey.

?These findings are startling because they reverse a yearlong trend and common assumption in the broadband industry ? that while cable has an overall lead, DSL is gaining,? Kersey says. ?And with some DSL providers recently announcing their intentions to slow rollouts of their DSL services, we can only expect that cable providers will further increase their lead in broadband subscriber rates in the coming months.?

The financial woes of major DSL wholesalers certainly helped close the growth gap, Kersey says, but cable's decades-long plant upgrades may also finally be paying off.

The relatively good news for cable companies extended even to troubled Excite, which, despite declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy, managed to add 486,000 customers in North America.

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