Over half of Australia now has broadband speeds above 4Mbps
Australia has slightly improved its standing on the global broadband stage, now boasting an average connection speed of 5.5Mbps.
Akamai's latest State of the Internet report has shown that Australia is improving its global ranking when it comes to broadband speeds and access.
The report, which covers the period of Q3 2013, shows that Australia now boasts an average Internet connectivity speed of 5.5Mbps. This is up 13 per cent from last quarter and 28 per cent year on year, but still places us at just 43rd in the world.
Our peak speeds fare slightly better: at 30.1Mbps we're 30th in the world and up 32 per cent from the same reporting period in 2012.
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The Akamai report defines 'broadband connectivity' as speeds above 4Mbps. These speeds are currently available to 51 percent of Australians while only 8.1 per cent of the population get speeds of 10Mbps or more. Remarkably, this latter statistic is a 96 per cent increase from Q3 2012.
While Australia is undoubtedly showing growth in both its broadband speeds and penetration, we're still well and truly in the middle of the pack not only globally, but also within the Asia Pacific region.
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Once again, South Korea leads the pack, boasting an average speed of 22.1Mbps, with 93 percent of the country getting speeds above 4Mbps and 70 per cent blazing away at over 10Mbps. Interestingly, Hong Kong managed to pip South Korea to the top spot when it comes to peak speeds: 65.5Mbps versus 63.6Mbps.
You can explore all the data at the State of the Internet at the Akamai site.