Just when cable broadband new subscribers appeared to be taking a back seat to DSL additions, cable installations stormed back by adding 1.28 million new subscribers compared with 1.05 million DSL subscribers, said a report released Wednesday.

In its broadband report for the third quarter, the Leichtman Research Group said the nation's 20 largest cable and DSL providers logged more than 2.3 million new subscribers " a number slightly exceeding the earlier record set in the first quarter of the year.

"The top broadband providers now account for over 30.9 million high-speed Internet subscribers with cable having nearly 18.8 million broadband subscribers and DSL having close to 12.2 million subscribers," Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst, said in a statement. "Cable and DSL providers responded to the slight downturn in the market last quarter by aggressively marketing broadband services with discounted introductory offers to woo new subscribers and returning college students."

In the second quarter, DSL had added more net additions than cable for the first time and some observers thought telephone companies offering broadband had turned the tide against cable broadband providers. Cable providers have a 6.6 million subscriber lead over DSL representing a 61 percent market share, Leichtman said.

Comcast led all firms in net additions in the quarter adding 549,000 new subscribers in the quarter. The figure was 43 percent of total additions for cable operators and nearly 25 percent of all additions for the quarter.

Leichtman's tallies represent about 95 percent of U.S. cable and DSL broadband providers.