Global average connection speed increased 10% to 5.0 Mbps

Akamai Technologies has released its First Quarter, 2015 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 across fixed and mobile networks, and IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 implementation.

Beginning this quarter, security-related content that was previously included in the State of the Internet Report, including data on attack traffic seen across the Akamai platform and insights into high-profile security vulnerabilities and attacks, is now published in a separate State of the Internet | Security Report.

Data and graphics from the First Quarter, 2015 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 iOS and Android devices. State of the Internet Report-related discussions are also taking place on the Akamai Community.

“We saw generally positive results across all of the key metrics during the first quarter of 2015,” said David Belson, editor of the report. “The increase in global broadband speeds demonstrates an ongoing commitment to higher standards. While connectivity will continue to differ across many regions, we see the highest broadband speeds in countries/regions with high population densities and strong government backing or support, as well as those that foster competition among Internet providers.”

European Highlights from Akamai’s First Quarter, 2015 State of the Internet Report:
Average and Peak Connection Speeds: positive long-term European growth trends continued
In the first quarter of 2015, the global average connection speed for the first time reached 5 Mbps, a 10% increase over the previous quarter. Quarterly global average connection speeds among the top 10 countries all remained well above 10 Mbps, and six of the 10 had average speeds above 15 Mbps, as Ireland (17.4 Mbps), Sweden (15.8 Mbps) and the Netherlands (15.3 Mbps) joined South Korea (23.6 Mbps), Hong Kong (16.7 Mbps) and Japan (15.2 Mbps) in exceeding this benchmark in the first quarter.
All European countries surveyed in the first quarter achieved average connection speeds above the 4 Mbps broadband threshold, with 13 countries in total achieving an average connection speed above the 10 Mbps threshold (Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Romania, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Austria and Germany). With an unusually large 37% quarterly increase, Ireland (17.4 Mbps) beat out previous fourth quarter leader Sweden to take the top spot.
Year-over-year changes in average connection speeds were again consistently positive for Europe, with Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Sweden, all posting yearly increases of more than 30%. Austria saw the smallest increase at 10%, while Ireland and Portugal posted the largest gains at 63% and 43% respectively. These highly positive long-term growth trends point to continued ongoing improvements in Internet connectivity within surveyed European countries.
In the first quarter of 2015, global average peak connection speeds increased 8.2% to 29.1 Mbps. European countries saw stronger growth in average connection speeds compared to the fourth quarter of 2014, with increases ranging from Belgium’s 3.6% to Norway’s 22%. Romania held the top spot, with an average peak connection speed of 71.6 Mbps, and a further nine European countries achieved average peak connection speeds above 50 Mbps: Sweden (62.8 Mbps), the Netherlands (61.5 Mbps), Ireland (60.7 Mbps), Switzerland (59.7 Mbps), Belgium (53.5 Mbps), Finland (53.0 Mbps), Norway (51.9 Mbps), the United Kingdom (51.6 Mbps) and Hungary (50.4 Mbps).
Once again, year-over-year changes for European countries surveyed were consistently positive, with posted increases ranging between 20% (Belgium) and 57% (Ireland).

Broadband Connectivity: strong increases in 25 Mbps broadband adoption observed
For the first time, the State of the Internet is reporting on the percentage of IP addresses connecting to Akamai at average speeds of above 25 Mbps. Globally, 4.6% of unique IP addresses connected to Akamai at average connection speeds of at least 25 Mbps, a 12% increase over the previous quarter.
While South Korea led the world in 25 Mbps broadband adoption, with a 31% adoption rate, seven European countries made an appearance in the top 10 country/region listing: Sweden (#3) headed the pack with a 15% adoption rate, followed by Lithuania (#5), Latvia (#6), Norway (#7), Finland (#8), the Netherlands (#9) and Switzerland (#10). Year-over-year, the global 25 Mbps adoption rate grew 20%; in Europe, Lithuania achieved an astounding 271% yearly increase (to 12% adoption), followed by Sweden (up 69%), and Norway (up 60%).
The global percentage of unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai that met the 4 Mbps broadband speed threshold increased 6.6% to 63%, in contrast to the previous quarter’s slight decline in this metric. In Europe, the Netherlands jumped from fourth to first place this quarter with a 4.1% quarterly gain pushing its adoption rate to 95%. A further five European countries posted adoption rates above 90%; Denmark (94%), Romania (93%), Switzerland (93%), Sweden (91%) and Austria (91%).
In the first quarter of 2015, 26% of unique IP addresses globally connected to Akamai at average speeds above 10 Mbps, an 11% quarterly increase that is significantly greater than the previous quarter’s modest 2.9% gain. In Europe, five countries had more than half of their unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai at average speeds above 10 Mbps: the Netherlands (61%), Romania (59%), Switzerland (59%), Sweden (52%) and Belgium (51%). Quarter-over-quarter increases ranged from 3.9% in Switzerland (59% adoption) to 31% in Germany (31% adoption).
Fourteen percent of unique IP addresses globally connected to Akamai at average connection speeds of 15 Mbps or above, up from 12% in the fourth quarter of 2014 and, year-over-year, the global 15 Mbps adoption rate grew 29%. In Europe, Sweden once again led the pack, experiencing an 11% quarterly boost to a 35% adoption rate. The Netherlands (33% adoption) and Switzerland (32% adoption) were not far behind, while a further five European countries (Norway, Romania, Finland, Czech Republic and Denmark) saw at least one-in-four IP addresses connect to Akamai at average speeds of at least 15 Mbps. Year-over-year, European countries achieved strong increases in 15 Mbps broadband adoption levels, with gains ranging from 17% in Austria to an impressive 270% in Portugal.
The first quarter of 2015 saw a number of announcements across Europe that point to continuing growth in fast broadband connectivity. The Italian government approved a six-year $6.7 billion high broadband connectivity initiative with the goal of delivering Internet speeds of 100 Mbps within cities, and 30 Mbps or more in less populated regions. In Wales, the government is collaborating with British telecommunications company BT to make 30 Mbps broadband capabilities available throughout the country, including less-connected rural areas; at the beginning of March, more than 45,000 homes had already gained fast broadband access through the Superfast Cymru project.

IPv4 and IPv6: European countries continued to lead the world in IPv6 adoption
Continuing with the trend seen in the fourth quarter of 2014, the number of unique IPv4 addresses worldwide connecting to Akamai grew by nearly 10 million in the first quarter of 2015. Among the top 10 countries in the first quarter, the United Kingdom and Japan showed the largest quarterly gains at 5.7% and 5.1% respectively.
European countries continued to dominate the global top 10 countries/regions with the largest percentage of content requests made to Akamai over IPv6 in the first quarter of 2015. Similar to last quarter, Belgium maintained its clear lead, with one-third of content requests being made over IPv6, more than double the percentage of second-place Germany. Portugal, with a 57% quarter-over-quarter jump in IPv6 traffic, joined the top 10 this quarter, pushing Romania off the list. As with the previous quarter, the only two non-European countries among the top 10 were the United States and Peru.
Cable and wireless/mobile providers continued to drive the largest volumes of IPv6 requests. In Europe, the Belgian carrier Brutele had 64% of requests to Akamai made over IPv6 this quarter, closely followed by Telenet at 49%. German carriers Kabel Deutschland, Kabel BW, and Unitymedia once again had more than a quarter of their requests to Akamai over IPv6.

Mobile Connectivity: UK had fastest average connection speed at 20.4 Mbps
In the First Quarter, 2015 State of the Internet Report, 62 countries/regions qualified for inclusion in the mobile connectivity section. The United Kingdom had the fastest average connection speed at 20.4 Mbps, a 28% increase from the previous quarter. Denmark was again in second place, at 10 Mbps.
Average peak mobile connection speeds again spanned an extremely broad range, from 149.3 Mbps in Australia down to 8.2 Mbps in Indonesia. A total of four countries – Australia (149.3 Mbps), Japan (126 Mbps), Singapore (116.4 Mbps) and Thailand (105.4 Mbps) – posted average peak speeds above 100 Mbps, up from two countries in the fourth quarter. In Europe, the UK achieved the highest average peak mobile connection speed at 90.9 Mbps, followed by Germany (69.4 Mbps), Spain (57.1 Mbps) and Italy (53.7 Mbps).
Denmark led the world in the percentage of unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai from mobile network providers within the qualifying countries/regions at average speeds of over 4 Mbps, with a 98% adoption rate. It was followed closely by Sweden (97% adoption), Venezuela (97% adoption), Australia (96% adoption) and the United Kingdom (95% adoption).