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Research compiled by Cable.co.uk based on data gathered by M-Lab has revealed that the principality of Liechtenstein offers the fastest broadband in the world with an average speed of 229.98Mbps.
At the other end of the scale the countries of North Africa have the lowest average speed in the world (3.80Mbps). The global speed table is dominated by Western European countries, occupying eight of the top ten places, but the UK languishes at 22nd out of 29 states in Western Europe.
The gap between the broadband hares and tortoises is widening year on year with the top five 276 times faster than the five slowest this year compared to 125 times faster last year. In real terms this means downloading a 5GB file HD movie in Liechtenstein would take 2m 58s but in bottom placed South Sudan it would take 19h 31m (based on the average speed).
Worldwide 109 countries couldn’t deliver what UK watchdog Ofcom deems the minimum required to cope with the needs of a typical family or small business, 10Mbps or greater.
Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at Cable.co.uk, said:
"While global broadband speeds continue to trend upward, the truth is faster countries are the ones lifting the average, pulling away at speed and leaving the slowest to stagnate."
"The slowest countries are not slowing, they are simply not growing. While the fastest countries continue to accelerate year-on-year."
The research was based on the data gathered by M-Lab, an open source project with contributors from civil society organisations, educational institutions, and private sector companies.
