MELBOURNE: Australia is falling behind the global broadband race, ranking 44th for average connection speeds, down three positions from the previous quarter.

A new report has shown during Q3 2014 average connection speeds in Australia were recorded at 6.9 Mbps – a 1.8 per cent decrease quarter-over-quarter – though a year-on-year change of average connection speeds in Australia saw an increase of 25 per cent.

Australia also ranked a poor 47th globally in terms of broadband connectivity (connections above 4Mbps), down three positions from the previous quarter.

The percentage of broadband connectivity (above 4 Mbps) was recorded at 66 per cent (a 0.6 per cent increase quarter-on-quarter), while year-on-year changes saw a 28 per cent increase in Australia compared to the same period in 2013.

The statistics come from Akamai’s Q3 2014 State of the Internet report, which gathered data from the company’s Akamai Intelligent Platform – a distributed network of servers and intelligent software which handles over two trillion interactions daily.

The report, which was compiled through an analysis of web traffic delivered by Akamai to its customers, showed while Australia’s NBN rollout may be picking up pace it’s not doing much for our global competitiveness – Australia remained in 40th position globally in terms of high broadband (above 10 Mbps) connectivity, down 2 positions from the previous quarter.

The percentage of connectivity recorded above 10 Mbps in Australia was 14 per cent, down 6.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Year-on-year changes saw a 76 per cent increase in Australia compared to the same period in 2013.

Netflix is launching here in March 2015, bringing with it 4K capability, but Australia ranked a meagre 36th globally in terms of 4K readiness (above 15Mbps), down one position compared to the previous quarter.

The percentage of connectivity recorded above 15 Mbps in Australia was 5.8 per cent, down 13 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Year-on-year changes saw a 85 per cent increase in Australia compared to the same period in 2013.

In terms of security, Australia experienced 0.2 per cent of attack traffic in Q3 2014, while New Zealand experienced less than 0.1 per cent attack traffic.

China remained well ahead of the other countries/regions in the top 10, originating nearly half of the observed attacks, nearly 3x more than the United States, which saw observed attack volume grow by approximately 25 per cent quarter-over- quarter.

China and the United States were the only two countries to originate more than 10 per cent of observed attack traffic during the third quarter—the remaining countries/regions were all below 10 per cent.

Indonesia was the only country among the top 10 to see observed attack traffic decline, dropping significantly from 15 per cent in the second quarter to 1.9 per cent in the third quarter.·

In the third quarter of 2014, the number of DDoS attacks reported to Akamai by customers remained consistent, with 270 attacks reported for the second quarter in a row. Akamai said overall, this represents a 4.5 per cent reduction in attacks since the beginning of 2014 and a 4 per cent decrease in comparison to the third quarter of 2013.

The number of attacks in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region rose by 25 cent from the previous quarter, which brought the total number of attacks in the apac region to 84 for the third quarter.

This represents an 18 per cent increase from the same quarter in 2013, when 71 attacks against targets in the region were reported.

The third quarter saw a significant redistribution of the industries targeted by attacks, with both Enterprise and Media & Entertainment experiencing an increase in the number of attacks, while all other industries experienced fewer attacks.

Commerce dropped 15 per cent, from 78 to 66 attacks, while the High Tech vertical dropped from 42 attacks to 34, a 19 per cent decrease. The largest decline was seen in Public Sector, with a 27 per cent decrease in reported attacks, from 30 to 22.

“One need only look to the sheer number of connected device- and smart home-related announcements that came out of the 2015 International CES to see that consumers are continuing to adopt and expect more from connected technology and services,” said the report’s editor David Belson.

“The strong year-over-year growth trends illustrated in this quarter’s report show that the Internet is evolving and expanding to meet the growing demands of our increasingly connected lifestyles.”