2021 vs 2020 – UK Broadband and Mobile Speeds vs the World
Today we’re taking our annual look back at how the United Kingdom’s position, at least in terms of the top 50 fastest countries for both fixed broadband and mobile broadband (4G, 5G) speeds, has changed since 2020. In short, the UK jumped from 42nd to 26th for mobile, while we fell slightly from 47th to 48th for fixed lines.
The following report was created by tracking the publicly available data released by Ookla, which runs the popular Speedtest.net service for benchmarking internet connection performance. In our experience, Ookla’s performance data has tended to weight more toward the optimistic side, but for the purpose of this article that issue isn’t such a concern because it applies equally to every country in the table.
The main differentiator for speeds between countries tends to stem from their balance of network availability and the take-up of faster connection types. For example, countries with high availability of “gigabit-capable” broadband networks (e.g. FTTP, DOCSIS 3.1), or strong 4G and 5G mobile availability (with plenty of radio spectrum), will usually rank highest in the table.
Advertisement
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 more recently 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).
Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that the UK is now making rapid progress on “full fibre” delivery (here and here) and we were also one of the earliest adopters of ultrafast 5G mobile technology. Lest we forget that Virgin Media’s upgrade to 1Gbps capable DOCSIS 3.1 has made such speeds available to around 65% of the UK. But there’s still plenty more work left to do.
The Top Fastest 50 Countries for Broadband
At the end of 2020 we recorded that the average (mean) global fixed line download speed was 87.84Mbps (47.16Mbps upload), while the average global mobile download speed was 39.18Mbps (11.63Mbps upload). In that same period, the UK ranked 47th for fixed broadband (76.49Mbps DL and 22.88Mbps UP) and just 42nd for mobile (41.72Mbps DL and 10.44Mbps UP).
By comparison, in 2021 we recorded that the average global fixed download speed was 116.89Mbps (64.73Mbps upload), while the average global mobile download speed was 68.44Mbps (13.79Mbps upload). Meanwhile, the UK ranked 48th for fixed broadband (104.04Mbps DL and 30.69Mbps UP) and 26th for mobile (89.72Mbps DL and 12.80Mbps UP).
Advertisement
Overall, the UK’s ranking has significantly improved for mobile (rising from 42nd to 26th), but we remain almost static for fixed broadband performance, largely because other countries continued to improve at a similar pace, and it takes time to build take-up of newer FTTP networks.
We should add that the average global latency on fixed broadband lines in 2021 was 18ms (21ms in UK) and 36ms on mobile (42ms in UK) – lower figures for this are faster. Otherwise, the following tables show how the countries compare, using only download speed as the key measure, across the top 50 countries. Sadly, Ookla don’t make it easy to do the same table for uploads or latency.
Fastest 50 Countries for Fixed Broadband Speed (DL)
| Country (2021) | Mbps | Country (2020) | Mbps | |
| 1 | Monaco | 270.25 | Singapore | 229.42 |
| 2 | Hong Kong (SAR) | 260.35 | Hong Kong (SAR) | 215.19 |
| 3 | Singapore | 257.15 | Romania | 188.55 |
| 4 | Romania | 241.35 | Switzerland | 186.4 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 231.96 | Thailand | 183.58 |
| 6 | Chile | 227.77 | Denmark | 179.81 |
| 7 | Denmark | 226.13 | Andorra | 178.1 |
| 8 | Thailand | 223.72 | France | 177.93 |
| 9 | South Korea | 219.05 | Hungary | 169.52 |
| 10 | France | 218.84 | Monaco | 167.9 |
| 11 | Hungary | 215.19 | United States | 165.88 |
| 12 | Spain | 207.62 | South Korea | 162.4 |
| 13 | United States | 207.06 | Spain | 160.41 |
| 14 | China | 202.31 | Sweden | 158.73 |
| 15 | Liechtenstein | 196.43 | Liechtenstein | 154.78 |
| 16 | United Arab Emirates | 189.27 | Macau (SAR) | 154.34 |
| 17 | Canada | 185.04 | Canada | 149.35 |
| 18 | Andorra | 184.12 | Norway | 146.53 |
| 19 | Japan | 180.71 | Luxembourg | 144 |
| 20 | Sweden | 180.51 | China | 140.74 |
| 21 | Macau (SAR) | 179.72 | Chile | 140.23 |
| 22 | New Zealand | 179.49 | New Zealand | 139.82 |
| 23 | Luxembourg | 175.04 | Japan | 139.24 |
| 24 | Norway | 173.88 | Taiwan | 136.95 |
| 25 | Netherlands | 170.25 | Portugal | 131.5 |
| 26 | Portugal | 166 | Netherlands | 125.82 |
| 27 | Israel | 164.61 | Lithuania | 120.89 |
| 28 | Moldova | 163.45 | Germany | 120.13 |
| 29 | Poland | 160.3 | United Arab Emirates | 117.84 |
| 30 | Taiwan | 154.89 | Malta | 115.45 |
| 31 | Kuwait | 152.51 | Latvia | 115.22 |
| 32 | Malta | 150.52 | Israel | 113.48 |
| 33 | Lithuania | 148.93 | Poland | 111.81 |
| 34 | Latvia | 144.09 | Kuwait | 110.33 |
| 35 | Germany | 138.05 | Finland | 108.84 |
| 36 | Panama | 137.72 | Panama | 99.9 |
| 37 | Finland | 136.79 | Barbados | 98.79 |
| 38 | Belgium | 127.36 | San Marino | 98.73 |
| 39 | Ireland | 125.38 | Belgium | 97.32 |
| 40 | San Marino | 121.22 | Moldova | 93.51 |
| 41 | Brazil | 117.39 | Ireland | 93.34 |
| 42 | Slovenia | 117.02 | Qatar | 91.01 |
| 43 | Slovakia | 116.85 | Malaysia | 90.81 |
| 44 | Qatar | 112.81 | Slovakia | 90.65 |
| 45 | Barbados | 111.99 | Slovenia | 86.41 |
| 46 | Malaysia | 110.84 | Russia | 78.07 |
| 47 | Italy | 108.22 | United Kingdom | 76.49 |
| 48 | United Kingdom | 104.04 | Saudi Arabia | 75.42 |
| 49 | Saudi Arabia | 97.29 | Italy | 75.42 |
| 50 | Russia | 96.15 | Estonia | 74.73 |
Fastest 50 Countries for Mobile Speed (DL)
Advertisement
| Country (2021) | Mbps | Country (2020) | Mbps | |
| 1 | United Arab Emirates | 273.87 | South Korea | 145.03 |
| 2 | South Korea | 214.47 | United Arab Emirates | 129.61 |
| 3 | Qatar | 178.83 | China | 124.39 |
| 4 | Norway | 178.7 | Qatar | 108.44 |
| 5 | Kuwait | 170.67 | Australia | 88.35 |
| 6 | Cyprus | 168.72 | Netherlands | 88.13 |
| 7 | China | 168.28 | Norway | 87.37 |
| 8 | Saudi Arabia | 164.81 | Saudi Arabia | 84.64 |
| 9 | Bulgaria | 153.72 | Canada | 84.54 |
| 10 | Australia | 147.77 | Bulgaria | 77.3 |
| 11 | Switzerland | 136.58 | Switzerland | 73.85 |
| 12 | United States | 124.41 | Denmark | 66.68 |
| 13 | Sweden | 116.75 | Croatia | 66.31 |
| 14 | Croatia | 116.26 | Singapore | 64.06 |
| 15 | Denmark | 114.5 | Luxembourg | 62.26 |
| 16 | Luxembourg | 113.25 | New Zealand | 61.27 |
| 17 | Netherlands | 107.96 | North Macedonia | 60.3 |
| 18 | Singapore | 107.12 | Kuwait | 58.95 |
| 19 | Canada | 100.88 | Taiwan | 58.71 |
| 20 | Taiwan | 96.97 | Cyprus | 58.66 |
| 21 | Bahrain | 94.67 | Belgium | 58.12 |
| 22 | Greece | 93.23 | Sweden | 56.64 |
| 23 | Finland | 91.62 | Albania | 56.44 |
| 24 | France | 91.22 | Hong Kong (SAR) | 56.33 |
| 25 | Hong Kong (SAR) | 89.93 | Austria | 55.19 |
| 26 | United Kingdom | 89.72 | Finland | 53.89 |
| 27 | Germany | 88.87 | United States | 53.44 |
| 28 | New Zealand | 85.11 | Lithuania | 53.39 |
| 29 | Oman | 83.42 | Bahrain | 50.5 |
| 30 | Slovenia | 76.65 | France | 50.45 |
| 31 | Estonia | 75.21 | Germany | 49.67 |
| 32 | Brunei | 72.27 | Estonia | 48.82 |
| 33 | Japan | 71.97 | Serbia | 48.44 |
| 34 | Austria | 71.53 | Czechia | 46.57 |
| 35 | Belgium | 70.54 | Slovenia | 45.77 |
| 36 | Thailand | 67.35 | Macau (SAR) | 44.94 |
| 37 | Lithuania | 66.09 | Hungary | 43.6 |
| 38 | Czechia | 65.88 | Portugal | 43.27 |
| 39 | Hungary | 65.17 | Malta | 42.19 |
| 40 | Spain | 64.44 | Spain | 41.98 |
| 41 | Ireland | 64.23 | Trinidad and Tobago | 41.81 |
| 42 | North Macedonia | 63.52 | United Kingdom | 41.72 |
| 43 | Maldives | 62.14 | Romania | 41.48 |
| 44 | Portugal | 62.11 | Montenegro | 41.47 |
| 45 | Malta | 61.74 | Oman | 41.24 |
| 46 | Romania | 61.7 | Greece | 41.16 |
| 47 | Macau (SAR) | 58.71 | Lebanon | 41.03 |
| 48 | Italy | 58.18 | Italy | 40.65 |
| 49 | Albania | 57.47 | Slovakia | 39.78 |
| 50 | Slovakia | 57.37 | Moldova | 39.02 |
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 and Linkedin.
« Troubled UK FTTP ISP People’s Fibre Acquired by Swish Fibre UPDATE
Latest UK ISP News
- FTTP (5846)
- BT (3605)
- Politics (2656)
- Business (2372)
- Openreach (2372)
- Building Digital UK (2302)
- Mobile Broadband (2088)
- FTTC (2070)
- Statistics (1856)
- 4G (1763)
- Virgin Media (1710)
- Ofcom Regulation (1537)
- Fibre Optic (1444)
- Wireless Internet (1435)
- FTTH (1383)
I’d do anything to see an improvement in 2022 to 4G speeds as well as FTTP rollout. 62 meg is a speed I would consider not good enough considering I’ve been getting the same speed now since 2014… I have used my bros 900mb connection and it’s game changing!
lucky u, ive had 25mb from when fttc was installed “around 2015ish”
im weeks away from a 1gig up 1gig down thanks to cityfibre!
I CANNOT WAIT!!!
@Brett
I am with you and raise your 25Mbs to my 22Mbs.
Ive got 900meg and can’t notice a difference only when downloading the odd film . Im switching back down to 80meg plan at the end of this term . Not worth the hype .
The problem isn’t just the poor quality implementation of 4G in the UK, but the level of overselling impacting your service negatively during your contract. 4G like 5G needs a continual level of investment to maintain, but none of the carriers are even trying.
Until they do, it simply won’t become a viable alternative to fixed lines.
While I can always understand that those not on a current FTTP rollout may feel aggrieved, moaning that you’re still on FTTC after 7 or more years yet enjoying 20 times the speed my adsl line could manage since that tech was introduced, some of my neighbours are getting .5M fixed line if they’re not able to get a 4G connection.
Mobile will always be terrible in the UK because the government fleeces the network providers at every auction and then pours the money down the drain.
The only thing the UK is “World Beating” in is diverting taxpayers funds to your mates
The only thing the UK is “World Beating” in is diverting taxpayers funds to your mates
I think we are only average at that too.
Remember in the real world for the vast majority of people who are not represented on this site their broadband speed is more than enough. Maybe they would think government money should be spent elsewhere ?
Absolutely. If the government had used as much taxpayer money to invest in digital infrastructure as they invest in their own pockets over the past 2 years the UK would have the worlds fastest broadband now.
It’s just another example of the utterly embarrassing infrastructure and total lack of effort by the government to change it in the U.K. Brazil is ahead of us even! Countries several times the size of the U.K. are on much faster average speeds.
But no we must have a useless train that will get a minority group somewhere 10 minutes faster instead…. or I see the latest was a Tory peer using tax payers money to fix potholes in their driveway… not that Labour have done much more for U.K. broadband speeds and infrastructure, IMO.
Maybe if we stopped spending taxpayers money on illegal economic migrants to floating across the channel and spent it on ourselves instead eh….theres a thought!
Daily boat trips back to the nearest French beach is far cheaper.
Racism doesn’t make broadband faster lugz. Spirit of Christmas completely lost on you I see. Still, as long as you have someone to look down on, eh?
“in 2021 we recorded that the average global fixed download speed was 116.89Mbps (64.73Mbps upload)”
That upload speed is surprising. That’s faster even than Virgin’s top package. It must be *massively* skewed by a handful of people on symmetric altnets, and/or people on Openreach 900/110 package. Also, by the fact that people who pay for high speed links are more likely to run speedtests than everyone else.
Can we please have median rather than mean?
(Can’t edit post) Sorry, the UK figures were 104.04Mbps DL and 30.69Mbps UP. Even so it seems surprisingly high.
I think median would be well below these – i.e. the few people on high speeds are badly skewing the figures upwards, while the people on very low speeds have proportionately little impact.
A geometric mean would also be more meaningful than arithmetic mean.
The problem with mobile data stats at least is the time of day the testing takes place and which test results Ookla use. Its also impossible to make the figures viable considering location and mast contention across the country, so IMHO any figures can be taken with a pinch of salt.
Also if I do a speedtest wired from my router its about 150Mb where on the wifi its more like 50-100 depending where I am in the house is that the UK infrastructures fault that I don’t invest in the latest mesh system ?
So basically an none story mainly for publicity for speedtest.net
yep, we get a lot of them on here. Must their profile.
Is it not of a massive embarrassment that much much larger geographically challenged countries have way faster broadband than the UK? Or countries considered to be almost third world are not just higher but considerably higher?
I think the “difficulties” in the UK are massively overblown and it’s clear we have a pretty terrible approach to all this.
For those saying this isn’t accurate or that the figures can’t be trusted does it matter all that much? While the pure figures might be wrong the relative differences will still be right so seeing how we stack up against other countries (hint extremely badly) is the message we should take from this.
I guess the point being is that if the figures are overblown then we’re actually doing a lot worse than it suggests. This wouldn’t surprise me…
“..much much larger geographically challenged countries have way faster broadband than the UK”
– Countries with a lot of their population living in tower blocks will always be quicker/easier to fibre up. This will push the average up, but also hide the long tail of properties in rural areas that have little or no access the Internet. The UK has 97%+ >24Mbps, I wonder how that compares the the ‘much larger countries’ here?
– As has been said many times here, there are many people in the UK that could choose much faster speeds, but they just have not done so (yet). Reports like this, based on chosen speeds, don’t shame the UK’s slow Internet, it may just show that people in the UK have a range of options and many still chose a slower/cheaper option. Countries that didn’t benefit from the rapid/cheap and almost country wide FTTC upgrade won’t have that range of choice and so the average speed will be higher.
Sadly, Ookla don’t make it easy to do the same table for uploads or latency.
Uploads speed is the key！
Cable broadband can raise the upload speed ，but they do not want to do that！
To Mick：
a range of options ：do not include upload speed option！
You can not choose a ordinary download speed/ decent upload speed option.
The Point： low upload speed limits the demand to high download speed!
low upload speed limits the demand to high download speed!
Most cable internet providers, including Virgin Media、 Spectrum and Xfinity, have max upload speeds of 30 to 35Mbps, even though gigabit download speeds are often available. The same goes for most DSL and satellite internet services; upload speeds are far lower than the advertised download speeds.
cable internet providers ,they can give the 100 mbps upload speed ,but they do not want that!
They are bad guys!