United States still lags behind in international broadband penetration

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has released its latest international broadband statistics and the findings remain grim for the United States.

The United States still ranks 15th in high speed Internet penetration - defined as the percentage of inhabitants with broadband Internet connections of 256 kilobits per second – behind South Korea, Sweden, Canada, Britain, France and Germany.

Japan and South Korea continue to outclass the United States with high-speed networks, largely driven by their use of fiber-driven networks. 45 percent of broadband connections in Japan and 39 percent in South Korea are run completely with fiber.

However, the United States ranks 9th in percentage broadband with fiber connections, well below the OECD average. This puts the U.S. behind Sweden, Norway, Canada and Iceland.

Critics of the OECD report often point to the large United States rural populations as a flaw in the findings. Yet countries like Sweden, Norway, Canada and Iceland have a much lower population density that the US and still have higher broadband penetration.

OECD Broadband Portal – Press Release (OECD)

Poor showing for U.S. in latest high speed rankings (Speed Matters)