Akamai Technologies, a specialist in CDN services, has released its Third Quarter, 2016 State of the Internet Report. Based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform, the report provides insight into key global statistics such as connection speeds, broadband adoption metrics, notable Internet disruptions, IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 implementation.

“The holiday season serves as one of the true tests of Internet connectivity as consumers activate slews of connected devices at the same time and more families are at home collectively pushing their broadband capabilities to the limit,” said David Belson, editor of the State of the Internet Report. “The good news is that those limits are getting higher as we have continued to observe positive long-term trends in both average and average peak connection speeds around the world. While ‘batteries not included’ may still cause some unwelcome surprises, we’re optimistic that connection speeds won’t spoil the holidays this year.”

European Highlights from Akamai’s Third Quarter, 2016 State of the Internet Report:

Connection Speeds: Growth trend continued for European countries

• Average connection speed in Europe increased in all countries surveyed year-over-year, with Slovenia (14.1 Mbps) posting the largest gain at 45 per cent. Twenty-eight surveyed countries achieved double-digit gains, with six (Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Malta, Slovenia and Spain) seeing average connection speeds rise at least 25 per cent compared with one year prior.
• Norway retained the top spot among the European countries surveyed in the third quarter despite a slight 0.2 per cent quarter-over-quarter decrease to 20 Mbps. Second place Sweden (19.7 Mbps) achieved the largest quarterly gain observed in the region at 4.6 per cent.
• With a 1 per cent quarterly increase in average peak connection speed to 85.0 Mbps, Romania again led the European region. In total, 25 European countries had average peak connection speeds of at least 50 Mbps, down from the 26 observed in the second quarter.
• Year-over-year changes were positive for all European countries in the third quarter. In all, 27 of the 31 surveyed countries enjoyed double-digit growth in average peak connection speeds. Croatia achieved the largest yearly increase observed at 38 per cent while Finland posted the smallest gain at 2.4 per cent.

Broadband Adoption: Denmark achieved robust growth in 25 Mbps adoption

• Six European countries featured in the global Top 10 Country/Region listing for 25 Mbps broadband adoption: Norway (#2), Sweden (#4), Switzerland (#7), Finland (#8), Latvia (#9) and Denmark (#10). Impressive yearly gains were posted by Denmark (66 per cent), Norway (51 per cent), Finland (47 per cent) and Switzerland (41 per cent). While these are robust increases, they remained below the global average year-over-year gain of 68 per cent.
• Norway held onto the top spot for 15 Mbps broadband adoption among surveyed European countries in the third quarter, with 48 per cent of IPv4 connections to Akamai at average speeds above 15 Mbps. Year-over-year changes were positive across the European region. Croatia posted the largest increase in 15 Mbps adoption at 226 per cent, while Italy (138 per cent) and Slovenia (109 per cent) saw adoption rates more than double.
• The Netherlands overtook Switzerland to gain the top spot among surveyed European countries in the third quarter, with a 10 Mbps adoption rate of 65 per cent. Year-over-year gains were again posted by all European countries surveyed, with Croatia, Cyprus and Italy seeing adoption rates more than double with increases of 323 per cent, 157 per cent and 111 per cent respectively.

IPv4 and IPv6: Belgium remained global leader in IPv6 adoption

• The number of unique IPv4 addresses connecting to the Akamai Intelligent Platform was just over 806 million, which is 0.7 per cent more than the second quarter of 2016.
• Belgium remained the clear global leader in IPv6 adoption with 39 per cent of its connections to Akamai occurring over IPv6, up 3.3 per cent from the previous quarter.
• Five other European countries appeared in the Global Top 10 Region/Country listing for IPv6 adoption: Greece (#2), Germany (#3), Switzerland (#5), Portugal (#8) and Estonia (#9). While modest quarter-over-quarter declines were experienced by Greece (0.3 per cent) and Switzerland (2.6 per cent), Portugal posted the largest quarterly decline observed in the Top 10 Region/Country listing at 13 per cent.
• Cable and wireless/mobile providers continued to drive the largest volumes of IPv6 requests. In Europe, Sky Broadband (UK), TELENET (Belgium) and Belgacom Skynet (Belgium) topped the list with 58 per cent, 56 per cent and 33 per cent of their requests to Akamai being made over IPv6 in their countries, respectively.

Mobile Connectivity: United Kingdom had the highest average mobile connection speed

• In the third quarter of 2016, the United Kingdom once again had the fastest average mobile connection speed at 23.7 Mbps, with Belgium in second place at 19.3 Mbps.

UK Highlights:

• The UK has the highest average mobile connection speed in Europe, measured at 23.7 Mbps (for the third successive quarter)
• The Isle of Mann, is one of the top countries/regions with >4Mbps broadband adoption at 97 per cent.  Matched only by Guernsey and South Korea.  UK adoption is at 90 per cent
• In Europe, the UK had the 12th fastest average broadband speed, measured at 14.9 Mbps (Global ranking 20th).  This is a year-on-year increase of 15 per cent
• The UK’s average peak connection speed is 62.9 Mbps (12th in Europe, and 28th globally).  A year-on-year increase of 16 per cent
• UK adoption of >15 Mbps broadband speeds is 35 per cent, putting it at 11th place in Europe, and 17th globally.  This is a 26 per cent year-on-year increase

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