Average global connection speed increases 26% year-on-year

According to Akamai's Q4 2016 State of the Internet report, broadband adoption metrics are posting double-digit year-over-year increases.

Akamai has released its State of the Internet report for the fourth quarter of 2016. Based on information collected in the Akamai Intelligent Platform, this report provides key insights into global Internet statistics, such as connection speed, broadband adoption metrics, major Internet outages, IPv4 depletion, and IPv6 deployment.

You can view Q4 2016 State of the Internet Report data and charts on the Akamai State of the Internet site and from the Akamai State of the Internet app for iOS and Android devices. There are also discussions about the State of the Internet Report in the Akamai Community.

David Belson, editor of the State of the Internet Report, highlights that “Internet connection speeds continue to see positive long-term trends around the world, with particularly significant year-over-year growth in broadband adoption metrics. When Akamai first published this report in 2008, ‘broadband’ was established at 5 Mbps, and the adoption rate nine years ago was 16% worldwide. Today, we see a 25% adoption rate for 15Mbps worldwide.”

“Positive trends are driving companies to create and deliver more sophisticated experiences to larger audiences on the Internet, but they are also increasing the need for organizations to optimize these experiences for the multitude of connected devices used by their customers,” adds Belson. .

The study shows that the average interannual connection speed has increased in all the countries in the study, with the exception of Russia, which has not registered any change compared to the previous year. The lowest growth has occurred in Lithuania, with 1.9%, while in Denmark 29% has been recorded, which is the highest of all.

Norway maintained a leading position among European countries in the fourth quarter of 2016, recording strong quarter-on-quarter growth of 18% in average connection speed, which amounted to 23.6 Mbps.

27 of the 31 countries in this study had average connection speeds of 10 Mbps or higher in the fourth quarter, compared to 26 in the previous quarter.

On the other hand, six European countries appear among the top 10 countries or regions in terms of 25 Mbps broadband adoption: Norway (no. 2), Sweden (no. 3), Denmark (no. 5), Switzerland (no. 6), Finland (no. 8) and Latvia (no. 10). The most significant year-on-year advances were recorded in Denmark (79%), Switzerland (75%) and Norway (62%).

In terms of 15 Mbps broadband adoption in the fourth quarter, Norway has remained at the top among the European countries in the study, followed by Switzerland, which is in second place with an adoption rate of 54%. Seven other countries (Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, Romania, Latvia, and Belgium) reported 40% or more unique IPv4 addresses connected to Akamai with average speeds greater than 15 Mbps.

With an adoption rate of 73%, Switzerland has once again positioned itself among the top European countries in the study for 10 Mbps adoption, surpassing the third country on the list, the Netherlands. The 31 European countries under study have recorded annual progress in the fourth quarter, for example Croatia, which has achieved a year-on-year adoption rate that more than doubled (146%).

Belgium leads IPv6 adoption

In the fourth quarter of 2016, nearly 807 million unique IPV4 addresses were connected to the Akamai Intelligent Platform, a decrease of 0.4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2015.

Akamai's report shows a significant drop in IPv4 allocation activity in the fourth quarter, with 6.4 million addresses allocated compared to 16 million in the third quarter.

Belgium maintains its strong position as the global leader in IPv6 adoption, reporting 47% of its double-stacked content requests to Akamai over IPv6, a 20% quarter-on-quarter increase.

Mobile, wireless and wireline service providers have continued to see the highest volumes of IPv6 requests. In Europe, TELENET (Belgium), Kabel Deutschland (Germany) and Sky Broadband (UK) again topped the list, with 65%, 53% and 50% of their requests to Akamai for double-stacked content made via IPv6 in their countries, respectively.

Mobile connectivity

In the fourth quarter of 2016, the UK again delivered the fastest average mobile connection speeds, recorded at 26.8 Mbps.

Among the regions or countries studied in Europe, 19 had a speed of 10 Mbps or higher (an increase from 16 in the previous quarter).

Situation in Spain

The average connection speed in Spain was 15.4 Mbps, which represents an increase of 27% annually. 36 percent of connections in Spain were made at a speed greater than 15 Mbps, an increase of 50% annually.

For its part, 55 percent of connections in Spain were made at a speed greater than 10 Mbps, an increase of 31% annually.

90 percent of connections in Spain were made at a speed greater than 4 Mbps, an increase of 2.4% annually. The average connection speed on mobile networks in Spain was 13.4 Mbps.

Europe boosts broadband

The news published in the fourth quarter of 2016 by Akamai confirms the positive growth trends in broadband adoption and speed:

• The European Commission announced a €500 million European Broadband Fund (CEBF) to help meet the EU's goal of providing universal 100 Mbps access to all homes and businesses by 2025. 1 Gbps to all companies.
• Sweden has increased its connectivity targets and aims to offer gigabit speed broadband to 98% of its population by 2025.
• The German government has announced a four-phase project to deliver gigabit infrastructure by 2025, with the first phase focusing on providing universal 50 Mbps coverage by 2018.
• UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom has published a proposal that has resulted in a government universal service obligation for 10Mbps access by 2020.

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