Global Average Internet Connection Speed Rises to 7.2 Mbps

Content delivery network Akamai has released its State of the Internet report for Q1 2017, and finds the average global connection speed at 7.2 Mbps, a 2.3 percent quarter-over-quarter and 15 percent year-over-year rise. South Korea again has the fastest speed of any country, at 28.6 Mbps, followed by Norway (23.5 Mbps), Sweden (22.5 Mbps), Hong Kong (21.9 Mbps), and Switzerland (21.7 Mbps).

With a 22 percent year-over-year improvement, the United States is now the tenth fastest country, with an average connection speed of 18.7 Mbps. Residents of Washington D.C. enjoy the fastest average connections in the country (28.1 Mbps), followed by Delaware (25.2 Mbps), Massachusetts (23.8 Mbps), Rhode Island (23.7 Mbps), and Maryland (22.3 Mbps). The rest of the top 10 are New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Utah.

Washington D.C. also led with the most broadband subscribers with connections above 25 Mbps, considered the bar for 4K streaming: 38 percent were at that level or above. The report notes that all states except New Mexico saw increases in 25 Mbps adoption. "Among the 50 gaining states, increases ranged from 2.3 percent in Idaho (to 7.5 percent adoption) to 59 percent in Montana (to 14 percent adoption), with 49 states enjoying double-digit quarterly growth," the report says.

The United States has an average mobile connection speed of 10.7 Mbps.

For more stats, look to the State of the Internet section of Akamai's site.

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