Global broadband quality has improved by 50% in just three years and penetration of broadband continues to improve, according to a newly published annual study from Oxford University's Saïd Business School. The study, which was sponsored by Cisco, examined broadband quality in 72 countries and 239 cities using the data from 40 million tests on speedtest.net. Some key findings include:
- The average global download speed has increased 49% in just three years (3,271 Kbps in 2008, 4882 Kbps in 2009 and 5,920 Kbps in 2010).
- The average global upload speed has increased 69% in three years (794 Kbps in 2008, 1,345 Kbps in 2009. 1,777 Kbps in 2010).
- Average latency has fallen by 25% to 142ms. This is slightly up from 140ms in 2009, but still significantly lower than 189ms in 2008.
- South Korea tops the broadband leadership list for the second year in a row. The country enjoys an average download throughput of 33.5 Mbps, an increase of 55% from 2009. Average upload throughput is 17 Mbps, an increase of 430%, and average latency is 47ms, an improvement of 35% vs. 2009 figure. South Korea also boasts 100% broadband penetration.
- The next fastest countries/territories on the list include Hong Kong, Japan, Iceland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore, Malta, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Sweden, and Denmark.
- Hong Kong, Iceland, South Korea, Luxemburg and Malta lead in broadband penetration with take-up reaching 100% of households.
- Sweden, Denmark, USA, and Spain are the world leaders in mobile broadband quality. Sweden and Denmark are also in the leading group in fixed-line broadband.
- The latency of mobile broadband, one of the biggest weaknesses of mobile Internet access, has improved by 45% in just one year, from 1313ms to 724ms. Average download speed is now 936 Kbps, up 35% from 2009 and upload is now 277 Kbps, an increase of over 100% from 2009.
