Tuesday, 1 July 2014

India has slowest Internet speed in Asia Pacific: Akamai report


By on 10:51

India may soon have the largest number of Internet users in the world but it does not mean the country has a speedy Internet connectivity. In fact, it has the slowest Internet speed in Asia and globally it ranks 118th, behind Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. The revelation was made in the latest 'State of the Internet' quarterly report by content delivery network, Akamai. 

The Akamai report reveals the average internet connection speed in India is 1.7Mbps. However, the country saw 8.4% percent quarter on quarter change and 34% year on year. In Asia Pacific, South Korea leads with 23.6Mbps followed by Japan and Hong Kong with 14.6Mbps and 13.3Mbps Internet speeds respectively. 
“The global average connection speed continued its gradual increase heading into 2014, growing 1.8% quarter over quarter to reach 3.9Mbps. Given the long-term trending seen for this metric, it is likely that the global average connection speed will finally reach, and hopefully surpass, the 4Mbps broadband threshold in the second quarter,” says the report.

Average Connection Speed by Asia Pacific Country/Region

You can download full Akamai state of the Internet report here. The report also sheds light on the 4K readiness, mobile connectivity and Ipv6 adoption. 

The report comes shortly after the research firm eMarketer in its report stated India has had the lowest Internet penetration growth in Asia Pacific (APAC) at 17.4 per cent so far this year.

The latest Akmai report is certainly a wake up call for the service providers as well as the new government, which has an ambitious plan to set up 'broadband highway' in the country. That said, the number of Internet users in India is growing. According to a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) and IMRB, India will overtake US with more than 243 million users by 2014. 

But, while the numbers are growing, there has to be focus on improving the quality of services. Multiple reports have said that consumption of data-heavy content is growing, subsequently helping data penetration in the country. However, sluggish Internet speeds, even for the newer 3G network, has been a hurdle. 

What do you think about the latest Akmai report? What measures should be taken to improve Internet speeds in the country? Let us know your views in the comments section below:

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