SA’s broadband speeds: big improvements, but still rubbish

The latest Akamai State of the Internet report shows that despite massive speed increases, South Africa was the only country in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region which failed to reach Akamai’s minimum broadband requirements.

The Q3 2014 report was based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform, and provides insight into key global statistics – including connection speeds and broadband adoption across fixed and mobile networks.

According to the report, South Africa’s average broadband speed was 3.6Mbps. This is below Akamai’s 10Mbps “high broadband” and 4Mbps “broadband” thresholds.

“Only South Africa failed to reach either threshold [in the EMEA region],” Akamai said. It should be noted that South Africa was the only African country listed in the report.

Average connection speed

The global average connection speed was 4.5Mbps in Q3 2014. South Korea once again showed the highest average connection speed at 25.3Mbps.

Average connection speed in EMEA

Average peak connection speed

The global average peak connection speed was 24.8Mbps, with Hong Kong enjoying the highest average peak connection speed at 84.6Mbps.

South Africa had an average peak connection speed of 17.1Mbps – the lowest in the EMEA region.

Average peak connection speed in EMEA

Not all bad news

While South Africa is lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of broadband speeds, the country is seeing significant growth in both broadband speeds and peak broadband speeds.

South Africa had the highest yearly average broadband speed growth rate in the EMEA region at 59%.

South Africa also had the highest yearly average peak broadband speed growth rate in the region at 151%.

The country showed a 202% yearly growth rate in the number of broadband connections (over 4Mbps), and a 211% growth rate in the number of connections over 10Mbps.