Australia falling behind in global Internet ranks

A new report has revealed Australia’s comparatively slow progress in Internet speed and broadband adoption compared to other nations.

Despite year on year progress, Australia has fallen behind other countries, including reporting the smallest increase in average Internet connection speeds across the Asia Pacific region, according to Akamai’s Q4 2015 State of the Internet report.

Australia dropped two places to 48^th position on the global index this quarter for average connection speeds, recording 8.2Mbps, despite an 11 per cent increase quarter on quarter.

Across the APAC region, Australia saw the smallest increase in average connection speeds at 4.2 per cent, and smallest increase in average peak connection speeds at 6.4 per cent. It was also the only APAC nation that saw a quarterly decline in average peak connection speeds in Q4, recording 39.3Mbps – a 6.3 per cent decrease since Q3, and dropping Australia from 46^th position to 60^th.

Broadband adoption increased, but Australia saw less connectivity with medium to fast broadband speeds (above 10-15Mbps) compared to higher than average rates of relatively slower broadband adoption (above 4Mbps).

Australia dropped five positions to 44^th in Q4 for broadband connectivity above 15 Mbps, with only 8.2 per cent of users running this speed compared to a global average of 19 per cent.

Twenty per cent of users had broadband connections above 10Mbps, which was a 25 per cent increase year-on-year. This compared to a global average of 32 per cent.

Australia also dipped four positions to 56th in Q4 for broadband connectivity above 4 Mbps, with 73 per cent of users connected at this speed, which beat the global average of 69 per cent.

The findings highlight that despite ongoing increases in connection speeds and broadband adoption, many countries are progressing at a much faster pace.

Meanwhile, Australia achieved the highest average peak mobile connection speeds globally in Q4 2015, recording speeds of 153.3 Mbps. Australia was also one of the top five countries that recorded average peak speeds above 100 Mbps – including Japan, Israel, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates.

The report also highlighted a 23 per cent increase in global average connection speed, plus a steady increase in broadband adoption since Q4 2014.

South Korea nabbed the top average connection speed at 26.7 Mbps, posting a 20 per cent increase over the fourth quarter of 2014. South Korea and Macao were the only countries/regions to post double-digit quarterly gains in average peak connection speed at 10 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

“This quarter’s report shows great year-over-year growth in average connection speeds and overall broadband adoption,” noted David Belson, editor of the State of the Internet Report.

The global growth is important, said Belson, as consumer expectations rise and many high-profile events will be streamed this year, like the summer Olympic Games in Rio.

“The progress we’re seeing across our key metrics shows that, while there’s still work to be done, more parts of the world are increasingly able to support the delivery of broadcast-quality video content online.”