Average Global Internet Speeds Climb to 3.1Mbps as UK Tops 7.9Mbps
Akamai, a global content delivery network, has revealed in its latest State of the Internet (Q1 2013) report that the worlds average internet download speed hit 3.1Mbps (up 4% from 2.9Mbps in the quarter). Meanwhile the UK topped 7.9Mbps (up 7.3% from 6.5Mbps) and is ranked 12th fastest globally (up from 18th).
The report also reveals that 73% of broadband users in the United Kingdom experienced broadband download speeds of above 4Mbps (up from 64% in Q4-2012) and 20% were able to receive speeds of 10Mbps+ (up sharply from 11%), while the country’s top peak speed reached 36.3Mbps (up from 30.5Mbps).
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But despite the obvious improvements, which have put us close to entering the top 10, we’re still a long way off the front runners. In particular, South Korea continues to have the highest average connection speed of 14.2Mbps (plus peaks of 44.8Mbps). As usual this is largely thanks to their national fibre optic broadband (FTTH) infrastructure.
It’s also worth seeing how the United Kingdom compares with the rest of Europe (EMEA) and the answer appears to be an increasingly positive one, which might please the government.
Elsewhere the average Mobile Broadband download speed in the United Kingdom increased to 3.06Mbps (up from 2.91Mbps during Q4-2012) and the country’s average mobile peak speeds topped 19.33Mbps (up from 18.1Mbps).
However it should be said that Akamai’s data typically reflects the regional performance of its Content Delivery Network (CDN) and their connections with related ISP servers around the world; the data thus shouldn’t be taken as a reliable reflection of real-world end-user connection speeds.
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Similarly an ISPs local capacity constraints, Traffic Management policies and the fact that some consumers will often pick slower packages for a cheaper price, can all affect the outcome (this is one reason why South Korea aren’t as fast as their FTTH capability).
Akamai’s State of the Internet Q1 2013 Report
http://www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet/
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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