Akamai: Asia and Europe lead the way in terms of fastest average internet speeds

A new ‘State of the Internet’ report from Akamai reveals which countries had the fastest internet connections during the second quarter of 2016. The report shows the usual suspects in its top ten list, including South Korea and the Scandinavian states: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland.

The top 10 countries, ranked by fastest average connections speeds were:

1. South Korea – 27 Mbps
2. Norway – 20.1 Mbps
3. Hong Kong – 19.5 Mbps
4. Sweden – 18.8 Mbps
5. Switzerland – 18.3 Mbps
6. Finland – 17.6 Mbps
7. Latvia – 17.5 Mbps
8. Singapore – 17.2 Mbps
9. Japan – 17.1 Mbps
10. Iceland – 17 Mbps

According to Akamai, the global average connection speeds were 6.1 Mbps, up 14% since the previous year but down 2.3% from the last quarter. The global average peak connection speeds reached 36 Mbps, up 2.5% since the previous year and up 3.7% since the last quarter. All the countries listed above saw an increase in their average connection speeds since the previous year with changes between 5.1% and 55%.

The top 10 countries in terms of average peak connection speeds were:

1. Singapore – 157.3 Mbps
2. Hong Kong – 114.3 Mbps
3. South Korea – 110.1 Mbps
4. Bahrain – 100.9 Mbps
5. Qatar – 97.8 Mbps
6. Macao – 94.5 Mbps
7. Indonesia – 91.9 Mbps
8. Taiwan – 88.8 Mbps
9. Japan – 95.3 Mbps
10. Romania – 84.2 Mbps

You may have noticed that many countries with large economies are nowhere to be seen in these lists, here’s how a few of them fared (ranked by GDP):

• United States – Avg. 15.3 Mbps, Peak 69.7 Mbps
• China – Avg. 5.2 Mbps, Peak 35.4 Mbps
• Germany – Avg. 14.1 Mbps, Peak 55.7 Mbps
• United Kingdom – Avg. 15.0 Mbps, Peak 62.1 Mpbs
• France – Avg. 9.6 Mbps, Peak 40.5 Mbps

The countries with the worst connection speeds were in South America and Africa. In South America, average speeds varied between 7 Mbps and just 1.8 Mbps. In Africa, Kenya managed to get an average speed of 7.7 Mbps and a peak of 26.4 Mbps, both figures being the highest in any recorded African country.

Source: Akamai (PDF) via Broadband Choices | Image via Techkhoji