The State of the Internet: Australian edition

Thu, 24th Mar 2016

FYI, this story is more than a year old

The numbers are in and Australia was one of the top countries in the world when it comes to peak mobile connection speeds in the last quarter 0f 2015.

Based on the Q4 2015 State on the Internet report, Australia recorded the highest average peak mobile connection speeds globally in Q4 2015, recording speeds of 153.3 Mbps

Australia was one of the top five countries that recorded average peak speeds above 100 Mbps, as well as Japan, Israel, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates

The report found Australia and Finland led the world in terms of 4 Mbps broadband adoption rates for mobile connectivity, with both nations recording 99% adoption.

Despite recording a year on year increase in average connection speeds and average peak connection speeds, Australia still experienced a drop in global rankings – indicating that many countries are progressing at a much faster pace.

In fact, across APAC, Australia saw the smallest increase in average connection speeds at 4.2%, and smallest increase in average peak connection speeds at 6.4%

Australia was the only APAC nation that saw a quarterly decline of 6.3% in terms of average peak connection speeds.

“This quarter's report shows great year-over-year growth in average connection speeds and overall broadband adoption,” says David Belson, editor of the State of the Internet Report.

“This is particularly important as consumer expectations rise and many high-profile events, like the summer games in Rio, will be streamed this year,” he says.

“The progress we're seeing across our key metrics shows that, while there's still work to be done, more parts of the world are increasingly able to support the delivery of broadcast-quality video content online.” Key Australia Findings Average Connection Speeds

Australia dropped two places to 48th position this quarter, with average connection speeds recorded at 8.2 Mbps.
This is despite representing a 4.2% increase quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) and a 11% increase year-over-year (YoY).

Average Peak Connection Speeds

Australia saw a significant drop to 60th position in Q4, down from its 46th placing the previous quarter, with average peak connection speeds of 39.3 Mbps.
This represents a 6.3% decrease QoQ and a 6.4% increase YoY.

4 Mbps Broadband Adoption

Australia dipped four positions to 56th in Q4 for broadband connectivity (above 4 Mbps), with the percentage of adoption (above 4 Mbps) recorded at 73%. The global average stands at 69%.
This represents a 1.4% increase QoQ and a 6.2% increase YoY.

10 Mbps Broadband Adoption

Australia dipped two positions to 47th in Q4 for broadband connectivity (above 10 Mbps), with percentage of adoption (above 10 Mbps) recorded at 20%. The global average stands at 32%.
This represents a 8.8% increase QoQ and a 25% increase YoY.

15 Mbps Broadband Adoption

Australia dropped five positions to 44th in Q4 for broadband connectivity (above 15 Mbps), with percentage of adoption (above 15 Mbps) recorded at 8.2%. The global average stands at 19%.
This represents a 11% increase QoQ and a 27% increase YoY.

Average Page Load Time

The average page load time for broadband in Australia was recorded at 3632 (ms). Last quarter, this was recorded at 3598 (ms).
In terms of mobile, the average page load time in Australia stood at 4072 (ms).

Highlights from Akamai's Fourth Quarter, 2015 State of the Internet Report:

Global Average Connection Speeds and Global Broadband Connectivity

Global average connection speed increased 8.6% to 5.6 Mbps from the third quarter, a 23% increase year-over-year.
South Korea had the top average connection speed at 26.7 Mbps, posting a 20% increase over the fourth quarter of 2014.
After a slight decline in the third quarter, the global average peak connection speed bounced back with a 1% increase to 32.5 Mbps in the fourth quarter. This led to 21% year-over-year growth.
South Korea (95.3 Mbps) and Macao (83.1 Mbps) were the only country/regions to post double-digit quarterly gains in average peak connection speed at 10% and 13%, respectively.
Globally, 7.1% of unique IP addresses connected to Akamai at average speeds of at least 25 Mbps, a dramatic 37% increase over the previous quarter. Year-over-year, global 25 Mbps adoption increased by 74%, in contrast to the 15% yearly decrease seen in the third quarter.
Each of the top 10 countries/regions saw double-digit growth in 25 Mbps broadband adoption except for Hong Kong (15%), which posted a 9.8% change quarter-over-quarter. Norway (21%) and Denmark (15%) saw the greatest yearly gains at 165% and 188%, respectively.
In the U.S., 10 states had 14% or more of unique IP addresses connected to Akamai at average speeds of at least 25 Mbps, with the District of Columbia holding the top spot at 25% adoption, a 15% quarter-over-quarter growth.
The global percentage of unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai that met the 4 Mbps broadband speed threshold increased 5.8% to 69%. Year-over-year growth was 17%.
In the fourth quarter of 2015, 32% of unique IP addresses across the world connected to Akamai at average speeds above 10 Mbps, an increase of 15% over the previous quarter. Year-over-year, this was a 34% increase.
19% percent of unique global IP addresses connected to Akamai at average “4K-ready” connection speeds of 15 Mbps or above, up from 15% in the third quarter. Year-over-year, the global 15 Mbps adoption rate grew 54% with nine of the top 10 countries/regions seeing gains ranging from 3.3% in South Korea (63% adoption) to 102% in Norway (45% adoption).

IPv4 and IPv6

The number of unique, worldwide IPv4 addresses connecting to Akamai had a slight increase of 0.2% to just over 810 million addresses.
On a global basis, close to 70% of the countries/regions saw a quarter-over-quarter increase in unique IPv4 address counts in the fourth quarter, up 10% from the third quarter.
43 countries/regions saw IPv4 address counts grow 10% or more, while 13 saw counts decline 10% or more as compared with the previous quarter.
Belgium again maintained a clear lead, with 37% of content requests being made over IPv6, up from 35% in the third quarter. France (11%) posted the largest quarter-over-quarter gain with 113%.
Verizon Wireless (67%) and Belgium's Telenet (53%) continued to lead as the two network providers with more than half of their requests to Akamai made over IPv6.
Similar to last quarter, nine of the top 20 providers had at least one in four content requests to Akamai via IPv6. However, 18 of the top 20 – down from 20 in the previous quarter – had at least 10% of their requests to Akamai occur over IPv6.

Mobile Connectivity

United Kingdom had the fastest average mobile connection speed at 26.8 Mbps, with Spain in second place at 14.0 Mbps.
Iran had the lowest average connection speed, at 1.3 Mbps, followed by Vietnam with an average connection speed of 1.8 Mbps.
In the fourth quarter, Finland and Australia led the world with 99% 4 Mbps adoption rates, followed closely by Sweden with 98% adoption.