India has 38% connections above the 4 Mbps threshold, according to a study conducted by content delivery network Akamai Technologies for its Q4 2016 State of the Internet report. Overall, connections above 4 Mbps saw 28% increase from the previous quarter, and 123% from the same quarter last year. However, despite this, the country was still the 2nd lowest ranked in the Asia-Pacific region and overall 102nd in the world.
The average connection speeds in the country were also up – 5.6 Mbps up 36% last quarter – but was still the 3nd slowest average internet speed in the APAC region. Honestly, as we have mentioned time and again, even 5.6 Mbps appears to be hard to believe for India, although Akamai attributed the growth to initiatives like Google’s RailTel. South Korea continued to have the fastest average connection speed in the region and globally at 26.1 Mbps followed by Hong Kong at 21.9 Mbps (also 4nd globally) and Singapore at 20.2 Mbps (8th globally). Overall India’s average internet speed grew by 36% QoQ and 99% YoY, and ranked 97th globally.
Going by Akamai’s previous reports, India’s internet speed has climbed steadily over time to finally breach the 5 Mbps average speed barrier – above the 4 Mbps speed Akamai considers as broadband. Last quarter, according to Akamai, India had an average internet speed of 4.1 Mbps, the first time it crossed 4 Mbps in its reports. It’s worth noting that the TRAI defines broadband as internet connections above 512 Kbps, although it recently recommended redefining the minimum broadband speed to 2mbps.
High speed broadband adoption:
Akamai defines broadband connections with speeds over 10 Mbps as high-speed broadband. The adoption of high speed broadband in India stood at 14%, a 116% increase QoQ and 418% increase YoY. As of now, the country ranks 73rd internationally, with some Asian countries like Philippines Sri Lanka, and surprisingly, China, lagging behind India.
In South Korea, 83% of the internet connections were above the 10 Mbps mark, while 97% were above the 4 Mbps mark. Singapore and Japan also had impressive broadband adoption rates with 73% and 72% the connections respectively in each country above 10 Mbps, and over 92% above 4 Mbps.
15 Mbps connections:
There is a growing demand for 4K (Ultra HD) video content globally and even in India, given that 4K TVs are available for as cheap as Rs 35,000. According to Akamai, 10-20 Mbps bandwidth is the minimum speed required for seamless streaming of 4K videos. The 15 Mbps speed hits that sweet spot nicely.
South Korea ranked first by this metric, with 64% of the connection above 15 Mbps, followed by Hong Kong & Singapore at 52% each. In India 15 Mbps or more speed adoption increased 622% YoY and stood at 7.3%, an increase of 179% from last quarter.
Mobile connections:
India had an average mobile internet speed of 4.8 Mbps in Q4FY16. The fastest average mobile speed in Asia-Pacific at 13.8 Mbps, belonged to Australia. As per the report, the UK has the fastest average internet speed globally at 26.8 Mbps. The mobile penalty, basically the difference in load time caused due to slower pings on mobile as opposed to broadband, in India stood at 1.3x.
The State of the Internet report is based on data collected by Akamai’s Intelligent Platform across several metrics like internet connection speeds, broadband adoption rates, mobile connectivity, and attack traffic.
