The global average internet connection speed increased 4% in the first quarter to 3.1 Mbps, up 17% year-on-year, according to Akamai's latest State of the Internet report.
Global broadband adoption increased 5.8% sequentially and 12% year on year to 46%, the report suggests, based on a traffic analysis of the Akamai platform.
The global speed rankings were dominated by the usual familiar faces. South Korea had the highest average connection speed of 14.2 Mbps.
Hong Kong had the highest average peak connection speed of 63.6 Mbps, marking the first time this average has exceeded 60 Mbps. Japan was in second place at 50 Mbps, becoming only the second company to reach the 50 Mbps threshold.
The global average peak connection speed increased a strong 36% year-on-year to 18.4 Mbps. The global average for high broadband connectivity – or the percentage of connections with speeds above 10 Mbps – meanwhile grew 28% year on year to 13%.
South Korea had the highest high broadband score of 50%, followed by Japan at 43% and Hong Kong at 34%.
Elsewhere in the region, Thailand's and China's high broadband adoption rates actually decreased quarter-over-quarter to 0.5% and 0.2% respectively.
With India's adoption increasing 102% to 0.3%, China returned to its position as the country with the lowest level of high broadband adoption among the ranked countries.