In less than two decades, cable operators have built a huge business out of business services from scratch. In the US, for example, commercial services now generate close to $18 billion annually for the cable industry, up from less than $2 billion a dozen years ago, according to the latest tally by Heavy Reading.

The four biggest US MSOs -- Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Charter Communications Inc. , Cox Communications Inc. and Altice USA -- each now produce well over $1 billion a year in business revenues while the next three largest operators -- Mediacom Communications Corp. , WideOpenWest Holdings LLC (WOW) and Cable One Inc. -- each generate well over $100 million in commercial revenues.

Indeed, Comcast alone is on track to hit $7 billion in commercial revenues this year, up from about $6.2 billion last year. Charter Spectrum is not far behind and should close in on $6.1 billion this year, up from about $5.9 billion in 2017.

While cable operators continue to boost their commercial revenues, their growth rates are steadily slowing down from the hefty double-digit percentage hikes they were racking up just a couple of years ago. With the notable exception of market leader Comcast, which reports that business revenues are still climbing about 11% on a year-over-year basis, the industry is now seeing annual revenue increase in the mid-single digits.