Europe leads the way in broadband speed growth

Global average internet speeds increased by about 5.2% in the second quarter of this year, with Europe leading the way with impressive year-on-year gains, according to CDN giant Akamai’s latest State of the Internet report. 

The global average connection speed in the second quarter was 3.3Mbps, with quarter-over-quarter gains being seen in nine of the top 10 markets. The largest increases were in the UK, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, France and Italy, which recorded growth in average connection speed of over 10%.

Switzerland remained the European country with the highest average speed of 11Mbps after recording a 9.1% increase during the quarter. The Netherlands with an average of 10.1Mbps is the only other European country with an average in excess of 10Mbps, after recording a 6.2% quarterly increase.

Romania recorded the highest average peak connection speed in Europe at 47.5Mbps, followed by Switzerland with 41.4Mbps.