Average internet connection speeds up by 26 percent globally

Global average internet connection speed has increased 12 percent to 7.0Mbps in the fourth quarter of 2016 -- a 26 percent increase year-over-year, a new report said on Thursday.According to the "2016 State of the Internet Report" by global leader in content delivery network (CDN) services Akamai Technologies, South Korea again had the highest average connection speed globally at 26.1Mbps in the fourth quarter.On the average internet speed in India, the report says that the country made rapid strides on this front. The fourth quarter of 2016 saw internet speeds rising to 5.6Mbps, up from 4.1Mbps last quarter. However despite the major jump India continues to remain at the bottom.Globally, the internet connection speeds continued to show positive long-term trends around the world, with particularly strong year-over-year increases across all broadband adoption metrics as per the report."When Akamai first published the report in 2008, we defined 'high broadband' as 5Mbps and above, which nine years ago had an adoption rate of 16% globally. We're now seeing a 15Mbps adoption rate of 25 percent worldwide," said David Belson, editor of the report.The report provided insight into key global statistics such as connection speeds, broadband adoption metrics and notable internet disruptions, among others.

At 26.7 Mbps, the district of Columbia led the United States in average connection speed.

Global 4, 10, 15 and 25Mbps broadband adoption rates increased 15 percent, 31 percent, 37 percent and 45 percent year over year, respectively.

IANS