Akamai’s Global 2014 Internet Speeds Report Sees UK Hold Steady vs EU

Akamai has today published their latest global State of the Internet (SotI) report for Q4 2014, which reveals that average broadband download speeds in the United Kingdom increased slightly by 1.4% in the quarter to 10.9Mbps. The data suggests we’re now the 18th fastest in the world, which is up one place from Q3.

By contrast Akamai’s global Content Delivery Network, which accounts for 15-30% of all web traffic (approx. 15 Terabits per second on a daily basis), reports that the average world broadband download speed saw its performance remain effectively flat at 4.5Mbps during the fourth quarter (up by only 0.7% since Q3 2014) and top performer South Korea took a big hit by shrinking -12% over the same period to score 22.2Mbps.

Meanwhile a closer look at the United Kingdom’s results reveal that 83% of broadband users experienced Internet download speeds of 4Mbps+ (up from 81% in Q3) and 38% were able to receive 10Mbps+ (up from 36%). Elsewhere the proportion able to get speeds of 15Mbps+ hit 22% (up from 20%), while our peak download speeds reached 48.8Mbps (up from 46.8Mbps).

At this point it’s useful to contrast the UK’s results with those for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, which shows that we’re holding our own against the EU’s other major countries (e.g. Germany, France, Spain and Italy), yet the UK is still behind plenty of others.

Akamai’s report also includes data for Mobile Broadband (3G and 4G) performance, which reveals that the average mobile download speed in the United Kingdom is currently 16Mbps (up massively from 8.1Mbps in Q3) and top of Europe (well above the next nearest country of Denmark at 8.8Mbps). The UK also delivered a peak mobile speed of 61.8Mbps (up from 51.0Mbps in Q3).

Countries with the Highest Average Mobile Connection Speeds:
• Africa: Morocco, 3.0Mbps
• Asia Pacific: Japan, 8.3Mbps
• Europe: United Kingdom, 16.0Mbps
• North America: United States, 3.2Mbps
• South America: Venezuela, 6.3Mbps

Overall the report found that 88% of mobile customers received data download speeds of above 4Mbps in the UK, which is up from 81% in Q3. But take note that Akamai’s mobile performance has a tendency to wildly fluctuate and this quarter it’s been very high, yet previously it’s also gone very low, so take it with a big pinch of salt.

In fact Akamai’s data is in general not to be taken as a reflection of actual end-user connection speed, not least because the statistics only reflect the regional performance of their Content Delivery Network (CDN) and its Internet connections with related ISPs around the world.

Other factors can also play a part in data like this, such as the UK’s moderate 22% uptake of fixed line “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) services (here), which is despite the country having reasonably good availability of around 75-80%.

Akamai’s State of the Internet Q4 2014 Report
http://www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet/