Broadband speeds increasing around the world
Average broadband speeds are on the rise all over the world, according to a new report.
Akamai's State of the Internet report revealed a 25 per cent increase in the number of UK users who are now receiving high broadband speeds.
The research found that some 38 per cent of broadband customers in the UK now get high broadband speeds, but this percentage is not high enough to compete with the best in Europe.
Akamai revealed that the fastest average broadband speeds on the continent are to be found in Switzerland and the Netherlands, where the majority (56 per cent) of internet users have access to speeds of at least 10Mbps.
Broadband supply in Romania has developed rapidly in the last 12 months and 55 per cent of people in the country now receive high broadband speeds.
"It is interesting to note that while broadband adoption and broadband speeds are generally steadily increasing across the world, there is still a significant portion of the world population without internet connectivity," says the report.
"A recent McKinsey & Company study finds that 4.4 billion people around the world do not go online, including over a billion people in India and over 700 million in China."
It was also noted that 50 million people in the US, more than 15 per cent of the population, are still not connected to the internet.
Some 83 per cent of British internet users were revealed by the study to get average broadband speeds above 4Mbps, which meets Akamai's definition of broadband connectivity.
Akamai revealed that the average broadband speed in the UK is now 10.9Mbps, which is a rise of 12 per cent on the figure from last year's report.
More than a fifth (22 per cent) of UK users have recorded speeds of at least 15Mbps, found the study, which was up 42 per cent year-on-year. The figure is the sixth best in Europe.
Businesses looking to move services into the cloud should evaluate the performance of their existing network and consider setting up a leased line or MPLS network.
