South Korea tops global internet speed at 29Mbps

CDN network Akamai has published its quarterly “State of the Internet” report for the first quarter of 2016. The report examines global internet speeds, which are going to be more relevant than ever for live-sports aficionados in the summer of the Rio Olympic Games. Global average connection speed increased 12 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015, to 6.3 Mbps, a 23 percent increase year over

year. South Korea continues to be the global leader with the highest average connection speed (29.0 Mbps), an 8.6 percent gain over the fourth quarter of 2015. Runner-up and number three are two Scandinavian countries, respectively Norway and Sweden. Singapore maintained its position as the country with the highest average peak connection speed (146.9 Mbps), an 8.3 percent quarterly increase.

Hong Kong had the largest quarter-on-quarter increase with an average connection speed of 19.9 Mbps—an increase of 19%. All countries in the top 10 comfortably beat the global average, while South Korea was the only country to breach the 25 Mbps barrier.

Overall, increases were seen in 138 countries with Kenya (7.3 Mbps), Congo (3.5 Mbps), Mauritius (5.6 Mbps) and Indonesia (4.5 Mbps) benefiting from significant infrastructure improvements—average speeds grew by 298%, 133%, 115% and 110%, respectively. Only two countries recorded connections fall below 1 Mbps—Libya and Yemen.