Akamai, which is responsible for delivering 20% of global online traffic, has released its latest State of the Internet Q2 2010 report and revealed that the average UK broadband internet connection speed had increased from 3.8Mbps in Q1 (previous report) to 3.9Mbps in Q2 (Ofcom's May 2010 data recorded 5.2Mbps). The global average connection speed also grew from 1.7Mbps to 1.8Mbps over the same period, with South Korea predictably topping the scales on an average of 17Mbps!

The report found that 17% of UK broadband users experience speeds of more than 5Mbps, while 83% get speeds of above 2Mbps and just 1% of the country experiences internet connection performance of less than 256Kbps (0.25Mbps). At the same time our country is also responsible for 1.2% of global internet attack traffic.


In the second quarter of 2010, average measured connection speeds on Mobile Broadband network providers around the world ranged from 6.1 Mbps, down to 105Kbps (0.1Mbps); both were observed on operators in Slovakia. Of the 109 mobile providers listed, 19 had average connection speeds in the broadband (2Mbps+) range (up from 14 in Q1), while 29 more had average measured connection speeds of 1Mbps or more (up from 21 in Q2).

The report states that UK Mobile Broadband users download an average of approximately 456MB (MegaBytes) per month and have an average download speed of roughly 1.7Mbps, which excludes the gateway/proxy-to-Akamai communication speeds from one operator as this artificially raises the result and is not representative when included.

On a quarter-over-quarter basis, mobile connectivity appeared to improve in many places, with users on 95 of the 109 listed mobile providers experiencing higher connection speeds in Q2. Average speeds should continue to increase as more mobile providers launch HSPA+ ( HSPA ) and HSDPA networks, as well as networks based on LTE and WiMAX technology.

Akamai's State of the Internet Q2 2010 Report
http://www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet/