Akamai, a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that is responsible for delivering 20% of global online traffic, has released its latest Q3-2010 State of the Internet report. This found that the average UK broadband ISP connection speed had increase marginally from 3.9Mbps in Q2 to hit 4Mbps in Q3 (Ofcom's May 2010 data recorded 5.2Mbps).

By contrast the average global internet connection speed also grew from 1.8Mbps over the same period to reach nearly 2Mbps. The Asia Pacific country of South Korea continued to have the highest average connection speed in the world, at 14Mbps, although this was down from 17Mbps in Q2.

The report found that 17% of broadband users in the UK experience speeds of more than 5Mbps, while 85% (up from 83% in Q2) achieve performance above 2Mbps and just 0.9% of the country experiences internet speeds of less than 256Kbps (0.25Mbps). The results were largely unchanged over Q2. The UK is also responsible for 1.4% of global internet attack traffic, an increase from 1.2% in Q2.


Elsewhere a mobile operator in Russia took the top spot for the highest average Mobile Broadband connection speed, reaching nearly 6Mbps. A provider in Slovakia also topped the average peak connection speed list by recording a rate of nearly 23Mbps.

Average mobile peak connection speeds remained strong in Q3, with 15 operators achieving speeds in excess of 10Mbps, and all but 2 of the 111 listed providers achieving speeds of 1Mbps or more. By contrast the average UK mobile broadband speed was 2.2Mbps.

In the third quarter of 2010, over 533 million unique IP addresses, from 235 countries/regions, connected to the Akamai network (the UK is home to 21,665,959 IP addresses). This represents 6.6% more IP addresses than in Q2, and 20% more than the same quarter a year ago.

All of the countries in the top 10 saw quarterly growth, with South Korea’s 11% increase being the largest amongst that group. Annual growth was strong as well, with 7 of the top 10 countries experiencing double digit percentage increases. Notably, China grew by over 30% in the last year, adding approximately 15 million unique IP addresses.

Akamai's State of the Internet Q3 2010 Report
http://www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet/