Net speed: Malaysia above average, Singapore breaks threshold

• Singapore fourth APAC country to have average connection speed above 10 Mbps
• Global average connection speed up 21% to 4.6 Mbps, above ‘broadband’ threshold

MALAYSIA recorded peak Internet connection speeds of 30.5 Mbps, higher than the global average of 25.4Mbps, while Singapore became the fourth surveyed Asia Pacific country or region to have an average connection speed above the 10 Mbps ‘high broadband’ threshold, joining Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea, according to Akamai Technologies Inc.
 
The global average connection speed saw significant growth in the second quarter, increasing 21% to 4.6 Mbps, pushing it above the 4 Mbps ‘broadband’ threshold for the first time, Akamai said in releasing its Second Quarter, 2014 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 and broadband adoption across fixed and mobile networks, overall attack traffic, global 4K readiness, IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 implementation, and traffic patterns across leading web properties and digital media providers, the company said in a statement.
 
The report also includes insight into the OpenSSL ‘Heartbleed’ vulnerability, SNMP Reflection Attacks, and Storm and Zeus crimeware.
 
“The number of ‘firsts’ we’re seeing in the Second Quarter, 2014 State of the Internet Report make this a particularly interesting quarter,” said David Belson, editor of the report.
 
“We’ve experienced our first quarterly decrease in global unique IP (Internet Protocol) address counts, the global average connection speed has risen above the 4 Mbps ‘broadband' threshold, and Akamai's customers experienced a reduction in the likelihood of repeat DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks,” he added.
 
The global average connection speed increased 21% from the first to second quarter of the year. Eight of the top 10 countries/ regions saw double-digit percentage increases from the first to the second quarter of 2014, though South Korea kept its first place average connection speed (24.6 Mbps) with only a 4% quarterly increase.
 
Impressive 18% quarterly growth for Hong Kong (15.7 Mbps) pushed it ahead of Japan, which now matches Switzerland with an average connection speed of 14.9 Mbps.
 
Four of the top 10 countries experienced year-over-year increases of more than 50% in average connection speeds, led by South Korea's 84% annual rise. Yearly increases were seen in 136 qualifying countries/regions, from 197% in Uruguay (5.6 Mbps) to 1.2% in the United Arab Emirates (4.6 Mbps), Akamai said.
 
The global average peak connection speed also saw a significant uptick, with a 20% increase to 25.4 Mbps from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2014.
 
All but one of the 139 qualifying countries/ regions experienced average peak connection speed increases this quarter, ranging from 2.3% in Iraq (30.4 Mbps) to 65% in Jersey (43.2 Mbps).
 
This is a significant improvement from the first quarter of 2014, when 92 qualifying countries/ regions saw quarterly declines in their average peak connection speeds.
 
Year over year, the global average peak connection speed was up by 34%, Akamai said.
 
The global high broadband (>10 Mbps) adoption rate continued to see strong growth in the second quarter of 2014, reaching 23% thanks to a 12% increase during the quarter.
 
ix of the top 10 countries/ regions had more than half of their connections to Akamai at speeds of 10 Mbps or above in the second quarter, whereas only two of the top 10 reached that level during the first quarter.
 
Israel saw the most growth in the second quarter as compared to the prior quarter, with a 67% improvement, and while Japan saw the only decline with a nominal 0.3% decrease, it remained third on the list, with 54% of its connections at or above 10 Mbps.
 
South Korea and Switzerland lead the pack with 78% and 56% adoption rates, respectively.
 
Year over year, the global high broadband adoption rate was again up by 65%, the same as the first quarter of 2014.
 
APAC speeds
 
South Korea remained in its position as the country with the highest average connection speed, reaching 24.6 Mbps in the second quarter, well ahead of Hong Kong.
 
South Korea also remained the only surveyed Asia Pacific country with an average speed above 20 Mbps. Among the remaining countries/ regions, connection speeds ranged from 9.5 Mbps in Taiwan down to 2.0 Mbps in India.
 
Solid quarter-over-quarter changes were seen across all surveyed geographies, with increases ranging from 1.7% in Japan to an unexpectedly strong 42% in Vietnam. Ten of the 14 Asia Pacific countries/ regions had quarterly growth rates above 10%, compared with just four in the previous quarter.
 
Looking at year-over-year changes seen across the Asia Pacific region in the second quarter, all of the surveyed countries/ regions again experienced very strong growth in average connection speeds.
 
 Although none saw speeds double over the prior year, South Korea gained 84%, while both Taiwan and Vietnam added 73%. The smallest yearly change was 23%, seen in Japan.
 
The continued aggressive growth of both the short- and long-term trends is very encouraging, and points to ongoing improvements in Internet connectivity across the region, Akamai said.
 
In the first quarter, Hong Kong and South Korea were the only two surveyed Asia Pacific countries/ regions with average peak connection speeds above 60 Mbps.
 
In the second quarter, they remained apart from their peers, as solid quarter-over-quarter increases made them the only two with average peak connection speeds above 70 Mbps, with Hong Kong’s 12% growth rate pushing it just ahead of South Korea.
 
Strong quarterly growth in Singapore and Japan made them the only other two countries/ regions with average peak speeds above 60 Mbps.
 
In contrast to the first quarter, all of the surveyed Asia Pacific countries/ regions saw quarterly growth, with increases ranging from 5.2% in South Korea to 49% in Vietnam. In addition to South Korea, only Malaysia had a quarterly growth rate below 10%.
 
Year-over-year changes in average peak connection speeds across surveyed Asia Pacific countries/ regions were also very strong in the second quarter. The largest increase over the past year was seen in Indonesia, which grew 107%.
 
Among the remaining countries/ regions, both New Zealand and China saw average peak speeds grow by slightly more than 50% over the prior year, while Hong Kong’s 14% year-over-year change was the smallest of the group.
 
After a slight decline seen in the first quarter, the long term trend in Vietnam turned positive, as its average peak connection speed increased 29% from the second quarter of 2013.
 
The availability of high speed Internet connectivity is presumably improving across the Asia Pacific region, as the Philippines was the only surveyed country that did not qualify for inclusion in the second quarter, down from three in the prior two quarters, Akamai said.
 
Among the remaining qualifying countries/ regions, there was a significant spread of high broadband adoption rates. South Korea again topped the list, with 78% of connections to Akamai at speeds above 10 Mbps.
 
In addition to South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong also had high broadband adoption rates above 50%.
 
At the lower end, both Vietnam and Indonesia had less than 1% of connections to Akamai at those speeds, as did the Philippines.
 
In addition to the broad range of adoption rates, there was also a broad range of quarterly changes, Akamai said.
 
Japan and Taiwan were the only two surveyed countries/ regions to see quarter-over-quarter declines, both at 0.3%.
 
Quarter-over-quarter increases ranged from 2.0% in South Korea to a surprisingly high 534% in Vietnam, with Thailand and Malaysia also seeing high broadband adoption rates more than double from the first quarter.

4K readiness

Following the introduction of ‘4K Readiness’ in the First Quarter, 2014 State of the Internet Report, Akamai has again identified candidate geographies that are most likely to sustain connection speeds above 15 Mbps, as Ultra HD (high definition) adaptive bitrate streams typically require bandwidth between 10 and 20 Mbps.
 
The findings do not account for other ‘readiness’ factors, including availability of 4K-encoded content or 4K-capable televisions and media players, the company noted.
 
In total, 51 countries/ regions qualified for inclusion this quarter, and 12% of connections globally were at or above the 15 Mbps threshold. This is up 17% over last quarter's 11% readiness rate.
 
South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan topped the list at 62%, 34% and 33%, respectively. Year over year, the global 4K readiness rate nearly doubled, growing by 98% to 12% of all connections at 15 Mbps or above.
 
Attack traffic and security

Akamai maintains a distributed set of unadvertised agents deployed across the Internet to log connection attempts that the company classifies as attack traffic. Based on the data collected by these agents, it is able to identify the top countries from which attack traffic originates, as well as the top ports targeted by these attacks.
 
It is important to note, however, that the originating country as identified by the source IP address may not represent the nation in which an attacker resides.
 
In the second quarter of 2014, Akamai observed attack traffic originating from 161 unique countries/ regions, which was 33 fewer than the first quarter of the year.
 
According to Akamai's observations, the highest concentration of attacks (43%) came from China. Observed traffic from second-place Indonesia more than doubled quarter over quarter to reach 15%, while the United States followed with 13%, up slightly from last quarter's 11%.
 
The composition of the top 10 countries/ regions remained the same from quarter to quarter, but the group was responsible for a greater portion of observed attack traffic: 84% as opposed to 75% last quarter.
 
Furthermore, 70% of attack traffic originated from the Asia Pacific region, while the lowest volume of 0.3% was observed to originate from Africa.

Mobile connectivity

In the Second Quarter, 2014 State of the Internet Report, 56 countries/ regions qualified for inclusion in the mobile section.
 
South Korea’s average mobile connection speed grew slightly from 14.7 Mbps to 15.2 Mbps to maintain its top position, while Vietnam hit a global low of 0.9 Mbps. Average peak mobile connection speeds among qualifying countries/ regions ranged from 108 Mbps in Australia down to 4.7 Mbps in Vietnam.
 
The report also examines the percentage of connections to Akamai from mobile network providers at ‘broadband’ speeds (more than 4 Mbps).
 
In the second quarter, Denmark reported the highest level of mobile broadband adoption at 92%, whereas Brazil, Croatia, Paraguay, Vietnam and Bolivia all had mobile broadband adoption rates below 1%.
 
Data and graphics from the Second Quarter, 2014 State of the Internet Report can be found on the Akamai State of the Internet site and through the Akamai State of the Internet app for iPads and iPhones.
 
To download the full report, click here.
 
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