Global Average Connection Speed Increases 21 Percent Year over Year, According to Akamai’s ‘Third Quarter, 2016 State of the Internet Report’

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the global leader in content delivery network (CDN) services, today released its Third Quarter, 2016 State of the Internet Report. Based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform™, the report provides insight into key global statistics such as connection speeds, broadband adoption metrics, notable Internet disruptions, IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 implementation.

Data and graphics from the Third Quarter, 2016 State of the Internet Report can be found on the Akamai State of the Internet site. State of the Internet Report-related discussions are also taking place on the Akamai Community.

“The holiday season serves as one of the true tests of Internet connectivity as consumers activate slews of connected devices at the same time and more families are at home collectively pushing their broadband capabilities to the limit,” said David Belson, editor of the State of the Internet Report. “The good news is those limits are getting higher as we have continued to observe positive long-term trends in both average and average peak connection speeds around the world. While ‘batteries not included’ may still cause unwelcome surprises, we’re optimistic that connection speeds won’t spoil the holidays this year.”

Highlights from Akamai’s Third Quarter, 2016 State of the Internet Report:

Global Average Connection Speeds and Global Broadband Adoption

• Global average connection speed increased 2.3% to 6.3 Mbps in the third quarter, a 21% increase year over year.
• South Korea had the highest average connection speed at 26.3 Mbps in the third quarter.
• Global average peak connection speed increased 3.4% to 37.2 Mbps in the third quarter, rising 16% year over year.
• Singapore had the highest average peak connection speed at 162 Mbps in the third quarter.
• Global 10 Mbps broadband adoption rate rose 5.4% quarter over quarter, and 15 Mbps and 25 Mbps broadband adoption rates increased 6.5% and 5.3%, respectively.

IPv4 and IPv6

• The number of unique IPv4 addresses connecting to the Akamai Intelligent Platform was just over 806 million, which is 0.7% more than the second quarter of 2016.
• Belgium remained the clear global leader in IPv6 adoption with 39% of its connections to Akamai occurring over IPv6, up 3.3% from the previous quarter.
• Cable and wireless/mobile providers continued to drive the largest volumes of IPv6 requests, with Comcast Cable, AT&T Communications Americas and Verizon Wireless topping the list with 44%, 43% and 80% of their requests to Akamai being made over IPv6 in their regions, respectively.

Mobile

• Average mobile connection speeds ranged from a high of 23.7 Mbps in the United Kingdom to a low of 2.2 Mbps in Venezuela.

About the Akamai State of the Internet Report

Each quarter, Akamai publishes a “State of the Internet – Connectivity” report. This report includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform about attack traffic, broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics concerning the Internet and its usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time. To learn more and to access the archive of past reports, please visit the Quarterly Reports site.