We thought it might be interesting to end 2020 by looking at how the United Kingdom’s position has changed since 2019, at least in terms of the top 50 fastest countries for both fixed broadband and mobile broadband (4G, 5G) speeds. Overall the UK jumped from 52nd to 42nd for mobile, while we fell from 45th to 47th for fixed lines.
In order to create this report we made sure to keep track of the publicly available data released by Ookla, which runs the popular Speedtest.net service for testing internet connection performance. We should caveat that, in our experience, Ookla’s performance data has tended to weight more toward the optimistic side, but for the purpose of this article that same issue isn’t such a concern as it applies to every country in the table.
As usual the main differentiator for performance between countries tends to reflect a balance between the availability and take-up of faster connection types. For example, countries with a significant availability of “gigabit-capable” fixed broadband networks (e.g. full fibre FTTP and DOCSIS 3.1 cable) or strong 4G and 5G mobile availability (ideally with lots of spectrum) will usually rank highest in the table.
The United Kingdom has significantly improved its broadband and mobile infrastructure over the past decade, but such change is just as true in other countries and, judging by the results, it appears as if our development has struggled a bit to keep pace. In particular the UK was late to begin truly large-scale Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) deployments, which has left us trailing much of the EU, as well as other countries (here).
Despite those setbacks it’s worth noting that the UK is now making rapid progress on “full fibre” delivery (here and here) and we recently became one of the earliest adopters of ultrafast 5G technology. Lest we also forget that Virgin Media’s upgrade to 1Gbps capable DOCSIS 3.1 will make such speeds available to around half of the UK by the end of 2021. So we might be late to the gigabit party, but things are getting better.
At the end of 2019 we recorded that the average global fixed download speed was 71.55Mbps (38.91Mbps upload), while the average global mobile download speed was 30.93Mbps (11.88Mbps upload). At that time the UK ranked 45th for fixed broadband (63.65Mbps down and 18.75Mbps up) and just 52nd for mobile (34.14Mbps down and 11.56Mbps up).
By comparison, at the same time in 2020, we recorded that the average global fixed download speed was 87.84Mbps (47.16Mbps upload), while the average global mobile download speed was 39.18Mbps (11.63Mbps upload). Meanwhile the UK ranked 47th for fixed broadband (76.49Mbps down and 22.88Mbps up) and 42nd for mobile (41.72Mbps down and 10.44Mbps up).
Overall the UK’s ranking has improved for mobile, which may be partly due to our early adoption of 5G networks (we weren’t even in the top 50 last year), but sadly we’ve fallen back a few places for fixed broadband performance because other countries have improved their position at a faster pace.
We should add that the average global latency on fixed broadband lines in 2020 was 21ms (same in UK) and 38ms on mobile (42ms in UK) – lower figures for this are faster. The following tables show how the countries compare, using only download speed as the key measure, across the top 50 countries.
Fastest 50 Countries for Fixed Broadband Speed (DL)
Country (2020) | Mbps | Country (2019) | Mbps | |
1 | Singapore | 229.42 | Singapore | 193.21 |
2 | Hong Kong (SAR) | 215.19 | South Korea | 164.12 |
3 | Romania | 188.55 | Hong Kong (SAR) | 157.64 |
4 | Switzerland | 186.4 | Monaco | 151.24 |
5 | Thailand | 183.58 | Romania | 147.87 |
6 | Denmark | 179.81 | Switzerland | 144.34 |
7 | Andorra | 178.1 | France | 131.03 |
8 | France | 177.93 | Liechtenstein | 130.5 |
9 | Hungary | 169.52 | United States | 129.81 |
10 | Monaco | 167.9 | Hungary | 128.42 |
11 | United States | 165.88 | Sweden | 127.88 |
12 | South Korea | 162.4 | Andorra | 127.09 |
13 | Spain | 160.41 | Macau (SAR) | 122.94 |
14 | Sweden | 158.73 | Spain | 121.84 |
15 | Liechtenstein | 154.78 | Denmark | 118.87 |
16 | Macau (SAR) | 154.34 | Norway | 118.82 |
17 | Canada | 149.35 | Canada | 118.62 |
18 | Norway | 146.53 | Luxembourg | 117.04 |
19 | Luxembourg | 144 | Thailand | 111.49 |
20 | China | 140.74 | Netherlands | 106.99 |
21 | Chile | 140.23 | New Zealand | 104.83 |
22 | New Zealand | 139.82 | Portugal | 103.34 |
23 | Japan | 139.24 | Taiwan | 103.32 |
24 | Taiwan | 136.95 | Japan | 103.31 |
25 | Portugal | 131.5 | China | 101.28 |
26 | Netherlands | 125.82 | Latvia | 98.85 |
27 | Lithuania | 120.89 | Lithuania | 98.38 |
28 | Germany | 120.13 | Malta | 93.93 |
29 | United Arab Emirates | 117.84 | United Arab Emirates | 90.27 |
30 | Malta | 115.45 | Chile | 87.73 |
31 | Latvia | 115.22 | Barbados | 85.67 |
32 | Israel | 113.48 | Poland | 85.44 |
33 | Poland | 111.81 | Belgium | 85.23 |
34 | Kuwait | 110.33 | Panama | 84.49 |
35 | Finland | 108.84 | Finland | 84 |
36 | Panama | 99.9 | Israel | 82.91 |
37 | Barbados | 98.79 | Malaysia | 78.13 |
38 | San Marino | 98.73 | Germany | 77.57 |
39 | Belgium | 97.32 | Ireland | 75.82 |
40 | Moldova | 93.51 | San Marino | 74.83 |
41 | Ireland | 93.34 | Qatar | 72.48 |
42 | Qatar | 91.01 | Slovakia | 71.03 |
43 | Malaysia | 90.81 | Slovenia | 66.85 |
44 | Slovakia | 90.65 | Estonia | 64.56 |
45 | Slovenia | 86.41 | United Kingdom | 63.65 |
46 | Russia | 78.07 | Russia | 60.73 |
47 | United Kingdom | 76.49 | Italy | 59.22 |
48 | Saudi Arabia | 75.42 | Czech Republic | 59.09 |
49 | Italy | 75.42 | Kuwait | 58.47 |
50 | Estonia | 74.73 | Moldova | 58.32 |
Fastest 50 Countries for Mobile Broadband Speed (DL)
Country (2020) | Mbps | Country (2019) | Mbps | |
1 | South Korea | 145.03 | South Korea | 117.79 |
2 | United Arab Emirates | 129.61 | Qatar | 77.07 |
3 | China | 124.39 | Norway | 72.8 |
4 | Qatar | 108.44 | United Arab Emirates | 69.72 |
5 | Australia | 88.35 | Australia | 68.87 |
6 | Netherlands | 88.13 | Canada | 67.57 |
7 | Norway | 87.37 | Netherlands | 62.86 |
8 | Saudi Arabia | 84.64 | Croatia | 59.83 |
9 | Canada | 84.54 | China | 58.44 |
10 | Bulgaria | 77.3 | Switzerland | 57.09 |
11 | Switzerland | 73.85 | New Zealand | 54.38 |
12 | Denmark | 66.68 | Singapore | 53.64 |
13 | Croatia | 66.31 | Luxembourg | 52.91 |
14 | Singapore | 64.06 | Saudi Arabia | 51.8 |
15 | Luxembourg | 62.26 | Belgium | 50.8 |
16 | New Zealand | 61.27 | North Macedonia | 50.75 |
17 | North Macedonia | 60.3 | Denmark | 50.67 |
18 | Kuwait | 58.95 | Albania | 49.92 |
19 | Taiwan | 58.71 | Czech Republic | 49.29 |
20 | Cyprus | 58.66 | Lithuania | 48.91 |
21 | Belgium | 58.12 | Lebanon | 47.99 |
22 | Sweden | 56.64 | Malta | 47.62 |
23 | Albania | 56.44 | Sweden | 47.34 |
24 | Hong Kong (SAR) | 56.33 | Austria | 46.85 |
25 | Austria | 55.19 | Finland | 46.35 |
26 | Finland | 53.89 | Estonia | 46.3 |
27 | United States | 53.44 | Cyprus | 45.09 |
28 | Lithuania | 53.39 | Serbia | 44.45 |
29 | Bahrain | 50.5 | France | 44.12 |
30 | France | 50.45 | Montenegro | 43.97 |
31 | Germany | 49.67 | Taiwan | 43.95 |
32 | Estonia | 48.82 | Hungary | 43.88 |
33 | Serbia | 48.44 | Kuwait | 43.28 |
34 | Czechia | 46.57 | Suriname | 41.66 |
35 | Slovenia | 45.77 | Greece | 40.74 |
36 | Macau (SAR) | 44.94 | Oman | 40.03 |
37 | Hungary | 43.6 | United States | 39.29 |
38 | Portugal | 43.27 | Slovenia | 38.46 |
39 | Malta | 42.19 | Portugal | 38.03 |
40 | Spain | 41.98 | Romania | 37.76 |
41 | Trinidad and Tobago | 41.81 | Slovakia | 36.12 |
42 | United Kingdom | 41.72 | Germany | 36.04 |
43 | Romania | 41.48 | Moldova | 35.85 |
44 | Montenegro | 41.47 | Italy | 35.76 |
45 | Oman | 41.24 | Spain | 35.52 |
46 | Greece | 41.16 | Macau (SAR) | 35.36 |
47 | Lebanon | 41.03 | Bahrain | 34.98 |
48 | Italy | 40.65 | South Africa | 34.91 |
49 | Slovakia | 39.78 | Poland | 34.67 |
50 | Moldova | 39.02 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 34.61 |
I’d like to see it adjusted for max usage allowance.
Why is the UK so terrible?
We’ve let go and hard…
@Not Proud
Even where high speed broadband is available, many people not requiring high-bandwidth services such as streaming videos will opt for a cheaper packages. This must push down the average performance figure.
Thatcher’s legacy alive and kicking today where she let the market forces decide.
The incumbent government owned telecoms (BT/GPO) provider wanted to rollout fibre to every premises 30 or so years ago (as the story goes) .
Today, On fixed broadband the UK would have been in the top 5 of the chart.
Does the UK Govt (namely the Tories) do anything to benefit the people of this country, other than sell us down the river.
Its not always the fault of the EU.
The old Thatcher story keeps resurfacing on this forum, quite often even being used as an excuse of why there is no widely available fibre broadband in this backward country.
The truth is different. Nobody has prevented BT from deploying fibre for well over decade now, this has nothing to do with Thatcher who is dead. Rather, it’s plainly an example of sheer incompetence and a prevalent “Can’t Do” culture inherited from old GPO times. This incompetence has been to the detriment of both the customers as well as BTs shareholders.
Another thing to add, is that there was no World Wide Web, Tablets, Smartphones requiring Wi-Fi etc. back in the 1980s. Also it was felt that BT building a fibre network would scupper competition with Cable & Wireless’ new Mercury consumer phone provider and with the new cable franchise, who might have been reluctant to plough on, spending millions with building out their networks using what would have been inferior technology compared to BT’s fancy fibre network.
Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing and of course it would have been better if the UK had this infrastructure built back then. There’s almost no doubt this country would have been world leaders in the tech industry, but that’s life.
Shaukat what you say is true BT was stopped from trying to roll out a fibre network for fear of stopping competition in a free market who would try to compete against an already big player. However that said Mercury did try and compete against BT in the then telecoms market …what happened to them? When competition did come it came in the form of cable tv telephone line included. Now it is interesting to read that customers are moving away more from some form of subscription tv packages and “cord cutting” becoming more the norm which is now why we see TV providers co-operating more with other media providers amazon now on skyQ and virgin and a healthy market of broadband suppliers. However I cannot help but think that history will eventually repeat itself as it did with the railways bus company’s motor industry where you find in the end you are left with only a few big players the small outfits having been gobbled up by the big boys
Thanks for the further and wider perspective on that, forgot about the competition about mercury (think Vodafone run the network nowadays, or cable and wireless).
Just about remember the mercury button on landline phones.
Mercury was launched by Cable & Wireless plc as a consumer competitor to newly privatised BT. You might remember the 132 sticker or Mercury button on landline telephones back in 1980s and 1990s.
Eventually in the late 1990s Cable & Wireless plc merged Mercury Communications with the UK cable companies (most of which were US and Canadian owned): NYNEX, Videotron & Bell Cablemedia (which amazingly after all these years still has its website from the late 1990s still up and running! https://business.netcom.co.uk/bcm/Default.html BCM was itself jointly owned by Bell Canada, Jones Intercable and Cable & Wireless) to create Cable & Wireless Communications plc, which was majority owned by Cable & Wireless plc with NYNEX (now Bell Atlantic) and Bell Canada (now BCE) owning smaller stakes and the rest of the share floated on the London Stock Exchange. As a side note, Mercury one2one which was the World’s first GSM 1800 mobile phone network was never officially part of Mercury. Cable & Wireless plc owned 50% of the network alongside Media One (US West) Eventually the Mercury part of the name was dropped to one2one (which is today part of EE via Deutche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK)
In the early 2000s NTL Inc. made a bid for the consumer division of Cable & Wireless Communications plc. The company was demerged as CWC ConsumerCo (which encompassed the cable TV, consumer Internet: mcl.net; mcmail.com; cwcom.net and residential telephone (the former Mercury telephone service) which NTL Inc. acquired and Cable & Wireless plc acquired CWC DataCo which was the business and main infrastructure division left of Mercury Communications.
In 2010, Cable & Wireless plc demerged into Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc (where the Mercury assets were part of) and confusingly another version of Cable & Wireless Communications plc, which this time was the holding company of the international operations.
In 2013, Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc was acquired by Vodafone. The former Mercury division today now forms part of Vodafone’s Business division.
NTL Inc. of course went on to merge with Telewest and eventually acquire Virgin Mobile to form what we now know as Virgin Media. The few remnants of the former Mercury Communications residential side of the business have now been sold (such as the former cwcom.net ISP business to BoltBlue) and eventually closed down.
I hope that answers your question.
Meanwhile people like Boris and the culture secretary: “UK are world leaders in broadband”.
I am sorry to say that the UK is yet again the laughing stock of the world.
Former Eastern Europe leaves the UK standing.
@j karna
“Former Eastern Europe leaves the UK standing.”
From 2021, these countries will no longer be receiving UK taxpayers’ money via the EU so the figures might well start to change and tell a different story.
Moldova is not part of the EU.
In the top quartile is a laughing stock?
Remember the old quote “ a politician is only telling the truth when he accuses another politician of lying “
We need investment in broadband. The internet is awful in this country.
I read an article in The Guardian yesterday saying how the UK attracted more tech company venture capital than every other country in Europe combined. It now has as many “unicorns” as Germany, The Netherlands and France combined.
Ehen we fail to provide good broadband we suppress this positive growth industry, especially when so many are working from home.
It is evident that commercial companies like BT aren’t able to build a widespread fibre broadband in this backward country. The cherry-picking approach and short-term ROI strategy doesn’t work, it only leads to a bigger digital divide. And it was a big mistake to throw taxpayer’s monies at a beggar like BT who as a commercial company had no need for it.
Fibre broadband needs to be treated as a vital utility. An NBN-style approach which allows for ROI measured in many years in the future rather than having to rely on short-term gain is more appropriate.
@Oscar
“We need investment in broadband. The internet is awful in this country.”
Have you thought of investing in such a venture yourself?
@GNewton
Reducing taxes on internet providers would help, e.g. being charged business rates simply to pass premises, then charging customers 20% VAT.
I suspect also that investors must be waiting to see what difference LEO satellite services will make before forking out on connecting up any more hard to reach places.
The build out of NBN in Australia (NBNco) has had quite a few issue well from what I understand.
@GN – how much taxpayer’s money would have to have been thrown at another company to rollout a 100% FTTP network?
@The Facts: “how much taxpayer’s money would have to have been thrown at another company to rollout a 100% FTTP network?”
Your very question shows that you didn’t understand anything at all. I suggest you do a research on the original Labor NBN in the new year, focusing on the longterm financial plan, which wouldn’t have been a longterm burden to the taxpayer.
@GN – as in this. What about Virgin Media, CityFibre, Gigaclear etc. Would they be taken over or overbuilt?
Labour will deliver free full-fibre broadband to all by 2030. We will establish British Broadband, with two arms: British Digital Infrastructure (BDI) and the British Broadband Service (BBS). We will bring the broadband-relevant parts of BT into public ownership, with a jobs guarantee for all workers in existing broadband infrastructure and retail broadband work.
BDI will roll out the remaining 90–92% of the full-fibre network, and acquire necessary access rights to existing assets. BBS will coordinate the delivery of free broadband in tranches as the full-fibre network is rolled out, beginning with the communities worst
served by existing broadband networks.
Taxation of multinationals, including tech giants, will pay for the operating costs of the public full-fibre network. The plan will boost jobs, tackle regional inequality and improve quality of life as part of a mission to connect the country.
@The Facts: You are simply not getting the point. My example was referring to the original Australia NBN fibre project, not about your pipe-dream of an unrealistic UK labour-style promise.
Perhaps in this new year you’ll for a change come up with some more constructive ideas instead of constantly posting your lame questions on ISPReview or tearing down other user comments.
@Optimist: Why would anyone tax windows? Well it seemed like a good idea to some in late 17th century England? And we all know the rest of the story. 🙂
A similarly troubling tax exists today, but for light that passes underground rather than overhead – fibre rates. Not everyone realises it, but there is a tax to pay for each metre of previously dark fibre when it is lit. Details available from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Custom.
So yes, this is just another absurdity in this backward country.
I live in a Bradford West Yorkshire inner city and BTs gauranteed speed was 1mb download and fibre and cable is unavailable it’s a absolute joke
Ha! Nice this but living here in Harrow, London in this particular appartement block the best I can get is 8mbs. Average doesn’t say everything
leon so do something about it with your residents and management company of your block and get someone to install an FTTP solution for your block
the facts – labour plans wouodl have cost 5 – 7 time the actual labour estimate and send evry back to GPO days what could do you want and long as it black and ps there a waiting list for 8 months – to get what your given
no one was stupid enough to think it would work – (it was nationalisation by stealth