Global State of the Internet report reveals UK mediocrity

UK does not make top 10 average speed list, UK cities absent in top 100 cities

The UK lags behind the Far East and Europe in terms of internet speed

A report released today shows that the UK is lagging behind the most advanced countries in the world in terms of broadband speed.

Cloud optimisation services provider Akamai has released its quarterly State of the Internet report, revealing that, in terms of average internet speed for countries across the world, the UK is outside the top 10, coming in at 27th place.

Furthermore, no UK city has made it into the Global Average Connection Speeds top 100 list.

The report comprises data gathered from Akamai’s global server network, and provides figures on attack traffic, broadband adoption and mobile connectivity.

The UK has more than double the global average internet speed, with the typical UK user experiencing speeds of about 3.8Mbit/s compared with the global average of 1.7Mbit/s. However, the survey covers 198 countries, including many developing nations with little internet adoption.

Far Eastern countries enjoy the fastest speeds, with South Korea topping the list with an average of 12Mbit/s and Hong Kong and Japan following with 9Mbit/s and 7.9Mbit/s respectively.

UK watchdog Ofcom recently criticised ISPs as its own research revealed a widening gap between actual and advertised broadband speeds.

In terms of malware attacks, Russia remained the top attack traffic source, accounting for 12 per cent of observed attack traffic in total. The US and China held second and third place respectively, accounting for nearly 20 per cent of observed attack traffic.