Asia continues to lead in Internet connection speeds: Akamai
By Digital News Asia July 6, 2015
- Singapore up 17% to overtake Hong Kong in peak connection speeds
- Asian countries/ regions lagging in IPv6 adoption however
ASIA continued to surge ahead in average Internet connection speeds, with South Korea leading the pack, according to the State of the Internet Report for the first quarter (Q1) of 2015 by web technology company Akamai.
South Korea extended its lead despite a decline of 5.9% in the adoption of 25Mbps connections compared with Q1 2014, the company said in a statement.
Based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform, global adoption rates for 25Mbps connections, the new benchmark broadband speeds adopted by the United States, adoption rates rose 12% compared with the previous quarter.
South Korea continued to lead in 25Mbps adoption, with a 31% adoption rate, with Hong Kong a distant second at 17%.
Hong Kong and Japan also to remained among the top 10 countries averaging speeds above 15Mbps, continuing Asia’s strong presence in Internet connection speeds.
Across the board, a total of 131 countries/ regions saw increases in average connection speeds, ranging from Japan (0.4%) to Fiji (131%).
Asia experienced a rise in connection speeds, posting faster connection speeds compared with the previous quarter, except Taiwan which dropped 0.9% to 10.5Mbps.
Global average speeds reached 5Mbps for the first time, rising 10% over the previous quarter. Kamai said 29% of new connections clocked in average speeds above 10Mbps, an 11% quarterly gain compared with last quarter’s gain of 2.9%.
Singapore emerged the leader in peak connection speeds, clocking 98.5Mbps, up 17% to overtake Hong Kong (92.6Mbps), and keeping well above South Korea (79Mbps).
Across Asia, countries saw increases in peak connection speeds, with Indonesia seeing a 30% increase to 17.5Mbps, and Vietnam up 23% to 21.3Mbps.
Faltering at IPv6
The good news for Asia stops there, with the region failing to make it into the top 10 countries adopting IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6), the next-generation communications protocol.
IPv6 speeds up data transmission, but more importantly, IPv4 addresses are about to run out.
IPv4 remained a strong standard, with two-thirds of countries around the world having a higher unique IPv4 address count year-on-year, according to Akamai. Among the top 10 countries in unique IPv4 addresses is Japan, with a 5.1% increase since last quarter.
Europe continued to lead in IPv6 adoption, with only two non-European countries, United States and Peru, in the top 10. Belgium maintained its lead, with 33% of its request made with IPv6 addresses.
Mobile growth
In the mobile connectivity segment, 62 countries qualified for inclusion. South Korea (8.8Mbps) vaulted over Japan , snaring the top spot.
Asia continued to see a broad spectrum of mobile connection speeds, varying from South Korea (8.8Mbps) to Vietnam (1.3Mbps), Akamai said.
Asia led in the number of countries with average peak mobile connection speeds above 100Mbps, thanks to Japan (126Mbps), Singapore (116.4Mbps) and Thailand (105.4Mbps).
Q1 2015 saw 15 countries hit 50Mbps average mobile connection speeds, an increase from four countries last quarter.
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