Average US broadband speed 12.6 Mbps, up 4 ranks globally

Akamai Technologies released its Third Quarter 2015 State of the Internet Report, which found that the average broadband speed across the United States is 12.6 Mbps, up more than 9 percent since the third quarter of 2014. Data gathered from Akamai’s global “Intelligent Platform” showed that the US ranked 16th in the world in average broadband speed.

In the third quarter of 2015, the study says, the average connection speeds of the 10 states with the fastest Internet speeds “showed improvements across the board, unlike the mixed bag of changes seen in the second quarter.” Notably, the states with the fastest speeds are places in which fiber networks compete with cable, driving investment in higher speed networks. Moreover, the study also found that average connection speeds for almost all US states is improving.

The United States ranked 16th globally for average broadband speed with 12.6 Mbps. This average speed puts the US behind first-ranked South Korea (20.5 Mbps), second-ranked Sweden (17.4 Mbps), and third-ranked Norway (16.4 Mbps), as well as much of Europe.

Third Quarter State of the Internet Report (Akamai Technologies, Dec. 2015)

20th globally, average US broadband speed 11.7 Mbps (Speed Matters, Sept. 28, 2015)