Connectivity has so far moving from “wired” to “wireless.” In both
ways, nothing brings more serenity to everyday life- be it at work or
home- than a good internet speed. Whether attending an online video
conference at office, watching videos on YouTube or uploading pictures
to social networking site, the last thing we wish to see would be a slow
connection.
While many countries, including the poorly ranked India, suffer from slow or deteriorating
internet
connections, certain countries across the world cherish the flair of
ultra speed network connectivity even in their outskirts! With millions
of web connections and multiple network service plans, here are the 10
countries that have the best internet speed in the world, according to
the latest report from Akamai.
#10 Bulgaria
Internet Speed: 27.9 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 17 per cent
Global rank: 10
Over 60 percent of internet consumers in this European country access
the internet through LAN connections. The biggest Internet Service
Providers in the country even offer fiber optic access carrying services
ranging from IPTV to VOIP.
#9 Hungary
Internet Speed: 28.0 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 15 per cent
Global rank: 9
91Percent of Hungary's internet connections
has speeds above two Mbps. the country has several local Internet
Service Providers who offers plans ranging from monthly fees of about
$15 a month. Some of the Internet Service Providers offer packages which
combine Internet, TV and telephone subscription.
#8 Singapore
Internet Speed: 28.3 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 36 per cent
Global rank: 8
Internet access is readily available in Singapore with a connectivity
rate of over 99 percent! The penetration of residential wired brodband
in households was at 104.2 percent last year. The country in 2010 had
launched its Next Gen Nationwide Broadband Network which is Singapore’s
ultra-high speed fibre network. It offers pervasive, competitively
priced broadband of high speeds at comparable prices to ADSL and cable
connection. It was able to be deployed in 75% nationwide as of August
2011 and is on track to achieve its target of 95 per cent coverage by
end of this year.
#7 Belgium
Internet Speed: 29.5 Mbps (Peak)
Quarter-to-quarter change: 1.1 per cent
Year-to-year change: 10 per cent
Global rank: 7
Flanders, a region in Belgium has recently declared EU leader in high-speed internet by the European commison.
Internet connections with speeds of over 30 Megabits per second have a
penetration rate of almost 10 per cent in Belgium. Even though the
Belgians enjoy a good speed, the internet charges belong to the highest
and least flexible in Europe.
#6 Switzerland
Internet Speed: 29.9 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 25 per cent
Global rank: 6
Switzerland has one of the fastest connected population in the world
with 88 percent of the residential consumers connecting at speeds
greater than 2 Mbps and a 38 percent of them at speeds greater than 8
Mbps, according to a Nielsen survey. The country also has a strong
growth in the wireless broadband sector.
#5 Latvia
Internet Speed: 33.5 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 14 per cent
Global rank: 5
Internet,
once an expensive commodity in Latvia, has had its prices fallen due to
people refusing for taking the expensive home connections and instead
accessing internet from their work place or from public areas.
The average internet speed of the country was greater than 8 Mbps in
the first quarter of this year. Lattelecom, the country’s largest
internet service provider offers fiber optic bandwidth up to 500 Mbps,
which is available to more than half of Latvian households.
#4 Romania
Internet Speed: 38.6 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 15 per cent
Global rank: 4
More than half of the total internet connections in Romania are
broadband. 40 percent of these connections are running at around 30
Mbps. Even though the country was dropped out of the world’s top 10
internet speeds in the first quarter, it has again made it to the list.
#3 Japan
Internet Speed: 40.5 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 28 per cent
Global rank: 3
Japan has one of the best cost-to-performance internet services
available in the world. The country started with 56 Kbps dialup
connections in the early 90s. Towards the end of the decade cable
operators started providing broad band connections of their own which
became popular among the commoners. Japan has passed total network usage
of more than 1 Tbps of data in 2010 as per the Ministry of
Communications.
#2 South Korea
Internet Speed: 46.9 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 31 per cent
Global rank: 2
Due to government’s policies and programs that facilitated a rapid
expansion and use of broadband, South Koreans enjoy internet speeds as
high as 200 times the United States. As early in 2005, more than 96% of
mobile phones in South Korea had internet access and it was the first
country to have completed dial-up to broadband network. Many public restaurants and firms in the country even offer free Wi-Fi internet in business hours.
#1 Hong Kong
Internet Speed: 49.2 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 11 per cent
Global rank: 1
The people in Hong Kong enjoy astoundingly fast broadband at an
astoundingly low price. The Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN), with its
“Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH)” and “Fiber-To-The-Building (FTTB)”
Technologies, offer services with speeds upto 1 Gbps, with a guarantee
of atleast 80 percent of the advertised speed.
Since we saw the top 10 countries in the list, it is now time to see the position of U.S., a proclaimed tech leader and also the status of India.
United States
Global rank: 11
Internet Speed: 27.1 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 24 per cent
The United States has a global ranking of 11 in fastest internet connection.
India
Global rank: 116
Internet Speed: 6.9 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 21 per cent
India stands at a poor 116th
position in the list with average internet speeds touching just 1 Mbps,
way far behind other Asia Pacific countries. Only 1.2 percent of
connections in the country has speed of over 4Mbps.
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