A new report has shown that annually, the average global internet speed increases 24pc with the current speed showing 3.9Mbps with varying degrees of growth.
Published by Akamai, their latest State of the Internet report for Q1 of this year indicates that while the average sped is growing, the rate at which speed is increasing is not across the board as, for example, Panama’s speed only increased by 0.7pc to 2.6Mbps, Sudan increased its speed by an incredible 196pc to 3.2Mbps.
Meanwhile, Ireland posted a growth of 47pc on last year’s figures putting it as the second highest country ranked in terms of internet speed increase, however, in terms of our average speed we are ranked lower in tenth place at 10.7Mbps. in comparison, in first place both in terms of average speed and growth rate, South Korea posts figures of 23.6Mbps and a growth rate of an incredible 145pc on last year.
Further research was undertaken by the analyst firm in terms of EMEA countries and their readiness for 4K video content which would, understandably, require higher bitrate feeds which they judge at needing speeds of 15Mbps or more.
Ranked top in Europe, Switzerland showed that it would be the most capable of handling 4K content with 23pc of its population having access to such speeds, while Ireland is ranked tenth at 13pc, an increase of 109pc on last year’s figure.
Mobile broadband speeds indicate us as being at the median range in comparison with our European neighbours at 5.1Mbps with the highest speed available to Ukraine with 7.3Mbps and the worst on offer coming from Croatia at 2.2Mbps.
High-speed broadband image via Shutterstock
