Global Average Connection Speed Grows 23% YOY: Akamai Report
Akamai has released its State of the Internet Report for the first quarter of 2016, and the findings show briskly growing connection rates. The global average connection speed grew by 23 percent compared to Q1 2015, rising to a new high of 6.3Mbps.
As in previous quarters, the District of Columbia enjoyed the strongest connectivity in the United States, with an average speed of 24.0 Mbps and year-over-year (YOY) growth of 48 percent. It's followed by Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Utah, New Jersey, Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Washington. No state yet reaches the FCC's 25 Mbps broadband threshold, but D.C. is close.
Only in Delaware, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and D.C. do over half of online connections enjoy an average connection speed of 15 Mbps or greater, considered the minimum for 4K video.
Globally, South Korea still has the strongest connection speed, with an average of 29.0 Mbps. Norway jumped into the second spot, followed by Sweden, Hong Kong, and Switzerland. Across the world, 21 percent of users connect at 15 Mbps or greater, a YOY change of 58 percent.
Looking at mobile speeds, the United States averaged a dismal 5.1 Mbps in Q1, behind Canada (8.8 Mbps), and well behind most of Europe (the U.K. averaged 27.9 Mbps).
Data from the report is available at the State of the Internet section of the Akamai site. The full report is available for download (registration required).
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