UPD Global Country Ranking Pegs UK 31st for Average Broadband Speeds

A new study has used data collected by research group M-Lab to reveal that the United Kingdom delivers an average (mean) broadband download speed of just 16.51Mbps and ranks 31st fastest in the world versus 189 other countries. By comparison Singapore tops the chart with 55.13Mbps.

The data, which has been compiled and analysed by Cable.co.uk, is based on information gathered from 63 million speed tests that have been carried out across the world in the 12 months up to 10th May 2017. We note that the average speed of 16.51Mbps is just below the 16.9Mbps recorded by Akamai’s most recent State-of-the-Internet report (here) and below Ofcom’s own figure of 36.2Mbps, although the latter two use very different methodologies.

A closer comparison is probably Ookla’s annual speedtest.net report (here), which uses a similar methodology and reported average fixed broadband speeds in the UK for Q2-Q3 2016 as 39.76Mbps for download and 8.84Mbps for uploads. However Ookla’s results tend to use a much more optimistic weighting and they similarly ranked the UK in close to the same global position (33rd).

The results are useful for understanding our country’s place in the world, although it’s worth reminding readers that such reports make for a poor gauge when considering the availability of faster networks. At present it’s estimated that around 93%+ of premises are within reach of a fixed line “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) service – this should rise to 97% by 2020 – and we’re ahead of most EU countries for network availability (here).

However crucially just under half of home broadband lines in the UK are still connected via slow pure copper ADSL services, even though faster networks are often available (i.e. a lot of people haven’t upgraded due to various reasons such as a lack of awareness, higher prices, fear of switching, satisfaction with their existing package etc.).

Lest we forget that lots of other problems can also skew results extracted from internet speedtests, such as slow WiFi, poor home wiring and local network congestion (e.g. running a speedtest at the same time as somebody else is downloading a big file). But if we assume that many other countries will face the same issues then the new ranking remains a useful indicator of progress and take-up, so long as it’s taken in the correct context.

By comparison Singapore is a small city-state and one that has largely retired ADSL and Cable networks in favour of pure fibre optic (FTTH/P) services, most of which are advertised as offering broadband download speeds of up to anything from 1Gbps to 10Gbps. The limitations of speedtests and related real-world impacts on line performance are thus reflected in their score of 55.13Mbps, which is well below Gigabit territory.

An Openreach spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:

“Cable.co.uk’s research highlights the need for a better understanding of the broadband speeds people currently use, compared to the actual superfast speeds they can sign-up to right now. More than 93% of the UK can already access superfast speeds of 24Mbps or above and a recent survey by Ofcom shows that the average household can receive speeds of 36.2Mbps – a speed that allows households to easily stream films, carry out video conferencing and browse the web at the same time.

However, so far, only 30% of UK homes and businesses have signed-up to these superfast broadband services via Openreach’s network, which explains the results of Cable.co.uk’s tests. The UK is the leading digital economy in the G20, and we’re working with the broadband industry as a whole to make more homes and businesses aware that these superfast speeds are available to them today.”

Now to the results..