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South Africa was the only country in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) region that failed to maintain an average connection speed above the 4 Mb/s level in the fourth quarter of 2014, the latest ‘Akamai State of the Internet’ report revealed on Wednesday.
Barring South Africa, which reported a 9.9% quarterly contraction to 3.2 Mb/s, every country in the region had an average connection speed higher than the 4 Mb/s broadband threshold during the quarter under review.
The report showed that the global average connection speed had remained relatively flat at 4.5 Mb/s during the fourth quarter, with quarterly changes among the surveyed countries yielding mixed results.
Nine countries in the Emea region recorded a quarter-on-quarter decrease in average connection speeds, while 15 others reported increases and one remained flat during the fourth quarter.
The largest reported quarter-on-quarter growth in average connection speeds emerged from Sweden, which took the top spot among the Emea countries, with a 3.5% gain to 14.6 Mb/s.
Switzerland dropped to second place, with an unchanged 14.5 Mb/s average connection speed, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the only Emea country to report a double-digit increase of 23%.
Meanwhile, the average peak connection speeds across the Emea region during the fourth quarter was, according to the report, “mostly positive, but muted”, following a mixed third quarter and strong second quarter.
The UAE registered a 54% increase in peak speeds of more than 50 Mb/s, while Romania had overtaken Israel to become the Emea country with the highest average peak connection speed, after a 14% gain increased the country’s speeds to 67 Mb/s.
Akamai noted that Israel registered a second consecutive quarter quarter loss, dropping 2.1% to 60.5 Mb/s.
“Only two other countries — South Africa and Belgium — had declines in the fourth quarter, losing 12% and 2%, respectively,” the report stated.
Globally, the average peak connection speed increased 8.4% to 26.9 Mb/s, with the report pointing to speeds achieved during the fourth quarter that ranged from 157.3 Mb/s in Singapore to 7.5 Mb/s in Argentina.
In terms of average mobile-based connection speeds, Akamai’s ‘State of the Internet’ report showed that the UK had the fastest average mobile connection speed at 16 Mb/s, becoming the only surveyed country maintaining average speeds above 10Mb/s.
Denmark reported the second-fastest mobile connection speed at 8.8 Mb/s.
At 1 Mb/s, New Caledonia had the lowest average mobile connection speed, while Iran increased its speed to 1.2 Mb/s.
Morocco – at 3 Mb/s – boasted the highest average mobile connection speed in Africa, with the country also achieving the highest average peak mobile connection speed in Africa at 35.8 Mb/s during the fourth quarter.
“All but four countries — New Caledonia, Iran, South Africa and Argentina — had average peak mobile connection speeds above 10 Mb/s,” Akamai said, adding that the average peak mobile connection speeds spanned an “extremely broad range”.