European internet leaders see speed improvements

European countries in the top 10 average internet speed countries globally recorded significant improvements in 2013, according to CDN provider Akamai’s annual state of the internet report.

South Korean continued to lead globally on average connection speeds, with a connection speed of 21.9Mbps. Among European countries in the top 10, number three-ranked the Netherlands achieved a 38% increase in average speeds to reach 12.4Mbps in 2013, while sixth-ranked the Czech Republic and seventh-ranked Sweden saw average speeds rise by 30% to 11.4Mbps and 10.5Mbps respectively.

Eighth-ranked Latvia saw average speeds rise by 11%, while Ireland at number nine saw an impressive 59% rise in average speeds to 10.4Mbps.

Global average peak connection speeds recovered from a small decline in the third quarter of 2013 with an impressive improvement of 30% to 23.2Mbps in the fourth quarter, according to Akamai.

In Europe, Romania led the way on average peak connection speeds, with an 11% rise in the fourth quarter taking it to 50.6Mbps. In Europe, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium and Sweden exceeded 40Mbps average peak connection speed.

In terms of adoption of high-speed services, defined as services with a speed of above 10Mbps, the Netherlands saw adoption rise to 45% by the end of the year, while Switzerland recorded adoption of 42%.
The Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, the UK and Sweden saw adoption of 10Mbps and above by over 30% of connected households.