Though the U.S. still trails many other nations with respect to average broadband speeds, those connections are getting faster, according to Akamai’s State of the Internet Report for Q4 2015.
Per Akamai, U.S. average connection speeds in Q4 reached 14.2 Mbps, up 29% year-over-year, while average peak connections speeds hit 61.5 Mbps, up 25%. On a global basis, that put the U.S. at number 14 with respect to average connection speeds, and number 20 for average peak connection speeds.
Global average connection speeds in Q4 clocked in at 5.6 Mbps, up 8.6% from the previous quarter, and up 23% year-over-year. South Korea (26.7 Mbps) was tops among individual countries, followed by Sweden (19.1 Mbps), Norway (18.8 Mbps), and Japan (17.4 Mbps).
Global average peak connections speeds hit 32.5 Mbps in Q4, up 21% year-over-year, Akamai said. In this category, Singapore (135.7 Mbps) led the way, followed by Hong Kong (105.2 Mbps), South Korea (95.3 Mbps), Macao (83.1 Mbps) and Japan (82.9 Mbps).
On a global basis, 7.1% of unique IP addresses connected to Akamai averaged connection speeds of at least 25 Mbps, marking a 74% year-on-year increase. The FCC currently defines broadband as connections that provide at least 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up stream.
South Korea led all countries with 25 Mbps adoption, at 37%, followed by Sweden (23%), Norway (21%), Latvia (18%) and Japan (17%). The U.S. did not fall into the top 10 in this category, according to Akamai.
However, Washington, D.C. (Akamai counts it as a state in its quarterly reports), led the way with 25 Mbps adoption (25%), followed by Delaware (22%), Rhode Island (19%), Massachusetts (18%), Maryland (17%), Utah, New Jersey and Virginia (16%), Washington (15%) and Pennsylvania (14%).
Washington, D.C. led the U.S. with an average connection speed of 21.3 Mbps; Delaware topped all states with an average peak connection speed of 88.3 Mbps.
