Nearly 10% of India’s Internet connections have a download speed of above 15 Mbps (up 38% QoQ and 405% YoY), while 19% of them were above the 10 Mbps threshold (growing 30% QoQ and 285% YoY), according to a study conducted by CDN provider Akamai Technologies in its Q1 2017 State of the Internet report. A majority (42%) of the connection in India were above the 4 Mbps threshold, which grew 11% QoQ and 81% YoY.

Akamai does not mention about the share of connections below 4Mbps. But going by Akamai’s previous reports, India’s average Internet speeds have grown steadily over time to finally breach the 5 Mbps average speed barrier – above the 4 Mbps speed Akamai considers as broadband. It’s worth noting that the TRAI defines broadband as Internet connections above 512 Kbps, although recommended redefining the minimum broadband speed to 2mbps, which is again too less. A decent minimum connection speed threshold should be at least 8-10 Mbps, with an always-on connection speed of at least 4-5 Mbps.

Despite growth in high-speed connections (10 and 15 Mbps), India was still the 2nd lowest ranked in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of Internet speeds and overall 89th in the world. The average connection speeds in the country was at 6.5 Mbps up 17% QoQ. This is a slower growth when compared to last quarter, when average connection speeds increased by 28% QoQ.

Also, it’s important to note that the “average peak connection speed” stood at 41.4 Mbps, which grew 62% YoY. This simply means that the highest speed delivered (on an average basis) by all ISPs put together was just 41.4 Mbps. But we are expecting this number to grow over the next couple of months. More wired ISPs are either rolling out high-speed unlimited plans (without FUP), or data plans with exorbitant amount of usage like ACT’s 1TB FUP plan for home users with 1 Gbps speed.

The fastest out there

South Korea continued to have the fastest average connection speed in the region and globally at 28.6 Mbps followed by Hong Kong at 21.9 Mbps (also 4th globally) and Singapore at 20.3 Mbps (7th globally). While the highest average peak connection speed was recorded by Singapore at a whopping 184.5 Mbps.

High speed broadband adoption:

Akamai defines broadband connections with speeds over 10 Mbps as high-speed broadband. As of now, India ranks 64th internationally (in terms of high-speed broadband), with some Asian countries like Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Surprisingly, China followed closely with 62nd rank (in terms high-speed broadband) growing 84% QoQ.

In South Korea, a majority (85%) of the Internet connections were above the 10 Mbps mark, while 97% were above the 4 Mbps mark. Singapore and Japan also had impressive broadband adoption rates with 72% and 73% the connections respectively in each country above 10 Mbps, and over 93% above 4 Mbps.

Mobile connections

India had an average mobile internet speed of 4.9 Mbps in Q1FY17. The fastest average mobile speed in Asia-Pacific was at 15.7 Mbps, belonged to Australia. As per the report, the UK has the fastest average internet speed globally at 26 Mbps.

IP V6 adoption: At least 17% of all Internet connections in India were assigned an IPV6 address with Reliance Jio holding a majority (79%) of the connections with IPV6 support.

Akamai’s research methodology: The State of the Internet report is based on data collected by Akamai’s Intelligent Platform across several metrics like internet connection speeds, broadband adoption rates, mobile connectivity, and attack traffic.