SINGAPORE, March 23 — Peak Internet speeds in Singapore are the fastest in the world, but on average, Internet speeds in the island nation rank 16th globally.
During the last quarter of last year, Internet users in Singapore could occasionally hit speeds of up to 135.7Mbps while downloading a game or a software update. This is more than four times faster than the global average and is a 0.1 per cent increment over the results for the third quarter. However, while the measurements for peak Internet speeds are closer to the theoretical maximum capacity of the user’s Internet connection, they are unlikely to be representative of true throughput during “normal” usage conditions.
Despite this, the average Internet speed in Singapore was 13.9Mbps, fourth in Asia behind South Korea (26.7Mbps), Japan (17.4Mbps) and Hong Kong (16.8Mbps). The average speed in Singapore increased by 11 per cent over the third quarter in 2015, according to Internet connectivity company Akamai in a report today (March 23).
In terms of average peak Internet speeds, other Asian countries and cities dominated the top 10 positions. Hong Kong was in second place (105.2Mbps), followed by South Korea (95.3Mbps), Macau (83.1Mbps) and Japan (82.9Mbps).
Despite a 9.5 per cent improvement, Malaysia dropped one spot to place 55th globally at 42Mbps. Thailand remains at the 18th spot with peak speeds of 63.7Mbps, a 9.4 per cent from the previous quarter.
In terms of average Internet speeds, South Korea held prime position, followed by Sweden (19.1Mbps) and Norway (18.8Mbps). Malaysia’s average speed of 5.2Mbps has kept it at 73rd, while Thailand moved up one spot to 42rd with an average of 9.3Mbps.
Overall, most countries experienced an increase of at least 11 per cent in average since the third quarter, with the exception of Malaysia, who only showed a growth of 7.5 per cent. Indonesia showed the greatest growth at 32 per cent, said Akamai.
Global average connection speed also increased 8.6 per cent to 5.6 Mbps from the previous quarter, a markedly 23 per cent increase year-over-year.
Akamai processes approximately two trillion Internet transactions each day and uses the data to publish quarterly reports on broadband connectivity and cloud security. — TODAY
