The global average internet connection speed continued to improve in the fourth quarter, with a quarterly increase of 5.5% to 3.8 Mbps, according to Akamai Technologies’ latest State of the Internet Report.
Despite this improvement, half of the countries/regions listed among the top 10 in global average connection speeds actually saw nominal declines QOQ. Despite a 1.1% decline in average connection speed, South Korea held the top spot from QOQ, reporting the highest average connection speed of 21.9 Mbps.
Interestingly, quarterly increases seen in Ireland (8.4% increase to 10.4 Mbps) and the United States (2% increase to 10 Mbps) helped push both countries to average connection speeds to 10 Mbps or more, marking the first time that all of the top 10 countries/regions had average connection speeds a or above the “high broadband” threshold.
Overall, 133 qualifying countries/regions ended the year with higher average connection speeds than the year before, contributing to an increase of 27% from the end of 2012.
Global average peak connection speeds recovered from a small decline in the third quarter of 2013 with impressive improvement of 30% to 23.2 Mbps in the fourth quarter. Hong Kong and South Korea boast the highest average peak connection speeds and remain the only two countries/regions above 60Mbps, at 68Mbps and 64.4 Mbps, respectively.
Year over year, the global average peak connection speeds increased 38% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012.
The global broadband adoption rate grew 4.3% QOQ, with 55% of all connections to Akamai taking place at speeds of 4 Mbps or above. South Korea and Switzerland topped the list at 94% and 91% adoption, respectively.