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Akamai: UK still has highest mobile connection speeds

September 29, 2016

Akamai Technologies has released its Second 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 continued increase in average connection speeds is a reassuring trend as online retailers prepare for the busy holiday shopping season,” said David Belson, editor of Akamai’s State of the Internet Report. “However, recent Internet disruptions caused by everything from government-ordered blackouts to a lone monkey sparking a widespread outage are reminders of the many factors that can affect access to and use of the Internet that is so often taken for granted.”

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

Connection Speeds: Growth trend continues for European countries

  • Year-over-year changes in average connection speeds in the second quarter were positive for all European countries, with the exception of Ireland, which saw an 18 per cent decline to 13.9 Mbps. Norway (20.1 Mbps) and Croatia (7.7 Mbps) enjoyed the biggest gains in the region at 55 per cent each, while the Netherlands (17.0 Mbps) posted the smallest yearly increase at 8.7 per cent.
  • Norway retained the top spot among European countries surveyed in the second quarter of 2016, despite a 5.8 per cent quarter-over-quarter decrease in average connection speed to 20.1 Mbps.
  • Global average connection speed decreased 2.3 per cent from the first quarter of 2016 to 6.1 Mbps, a 14 per cent increase year-over-year.
  • Global average peak connection speed increased 3.7 per cent to 36.0 Mbps in the second quarter, rising 2.5 per cent year-over-year.
  • Romania once again led the European region, with a 2.2 per cent quarterly increase in average peak connection speed to 84.2 Mbps. A total of 26 European countries had average peak connection speeds of at least 50 Mbps in the second quarter.
  • Year-over-year changes were positive for all European countries surveyed; increases ranged from 59 per cent in Croatia (41.2 Mbps) to 1.3 per cent in Ireland (59.5 Mbps).

Broadband Connectivity: Norway and Denmark post impressive year-on-year 25 Mbps adoption gains

  • Global 10 Mbps broadband adoption rate grew 0.7 per cent quarter-over-quarter, but 15 Mbps and 25 Mbps broadband adoption rates fell 0.8 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively.
  • In spite of a 5.0 per cent quarterly decline, Switzerland maintained the top spot among surveyed European countries with a 10 Mbps adoption rate of 65 per cent. Year-over-year gains were posted by all European countries, with Croatia, Cyprus and Italy seeing adoption rates more than double at 381 per cent, 202 per cent and 111 per cent respectively.
  • Norway again led the way in 15 Mbps adoption with 48 per cent of its IPv4 addresses connecting to Akamai at average speeds at or above the threshold. In all, nine European countries saw quarterly gains in adoption; increases ranged from 14 per cent in Italy to 0.4 per cent in the United Kingdom. Year-over-year changes for 15 Mbps adoption were positive for all European countries surveyed.
  • The second quarter of 2016 saw six European countries feature in the Global Top 10 Region/Country listing for 25 Mbps broadband adoption: Norway (#2), Sweden (#4), Latvia (#5), Switzerland (#6), Finland (#7) and Denmark (#10). Impressive year-over-year gains in 25 Mbps broadband adoption were observed in Norway (172 per cent) and Denmark (133 per cent).

IPv4 and IPv6: Belgium is the global leader in IPv6 adoption

  • The number of unique IPv4 addresses connecting to the Akamai Intelligent Platform was just over 800 million, which is 1 per cent less than the first quarter of 2016.
  • Belgium remained the clear global leader in IPv6 adoption with 38 per cent of its connections to Akamai occurring over IPv6, up 5.1 per cent from the previous quarter.
  • Six other European countries appeared in the Global Top 10 Region/Country listing for IPv6 adoption: Greece (#2), Germany (#3), Switzerland (#4), Portugal (#6), Estonia (#8) and France (#10). Portugal was the only country in the Global Top 10 to see a quarterly decline, posting an 8.6 per cent drop compared to the first quarter. By contrast, France posted an impressive quarterly increase of 20 per cent.
  • Cable and wireless/mobile providers continued to drive the largest volumes of IPv6 requests, with Sky Broadband, TELENET and Kabel Deutschland topping the list in Europe with 56 per cent, 54 per cent and 52 per cent of their requests to Akamai being made over IPv6 in their countries, respectively.

 

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

  • In the second quarter of 2016, the United Kingdom once again had the fastest average mobile connection speed at 23.1 Mbps (down from 27.9 Mbps in the first quarter), with Belgium in second place at 21.1 Mbps (up from 19.4 Mbps in the first quarter).

 

UK Highlights:

  • UK had the highest average mobile connection speed at 23.1Mbps
  • 27 per cent YoY increase in UK IPv4 Average Connection Speeds to 15.0Mbps
  • 22 per cent YoY increase in UK IPv4 Peak Connection Speeds to 62.1Mbps
  • 54 per cent YoY increase in UK >15Mbps Broadband Adoption to 36 per cent

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