NZ fixed broadband speeds falls behind global pace

Wednesday, 23 March 2016, 5:24 pm
Article: Digitl

According to the latest Akamai State of the Internet report New Zealand ranks number seven in the world for average peak mobile speed.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, Akamai clocked NZ mobile broadband at a respectable 75.4 Mbps. That’s a long way behind Australia, which takes the top slot with its blistering153.3 Mbps average peak speed.

New Zealand’s average mobile speed is 7.4 Mbps. That’s better than average but behind Australia which gets an average 8 Mbps.

While New Zealand is among the front-runners for mobile broadband speeds, it is falling behind the pace in fixed line broadband.

This is despite the billions of dollars being invested in new networks and the improved uptake of fibre services. The only consolation is that we are pulling further ahead of Australia which is now something of a fixed-line broadband laggard.

Akamai says New Zealand moved up one slot over the last quarter in the global table for average connection speeds. We now rank at 41 in the world with an average connection speed of 9.3 Mbps.

Our year-on-year average connection speed increase of 27 percent means we are doing a little better than keeping pace with the rest of the world. The global average connection speed climbed 23 percent in the last year to 5.6 Mbps.

Australia now ranks 48 with an average connection speed of 8.2 Mbps. The gulf between mobile and fixed line performance in Australia is bigger than anywhere else.

Average peak connection speeds in New Zealand are up 25 percent on a year ago to 42.8 Mbps, but that only gets us to 53rd place in the global table. In the previous quarter we were at 45.

The global average peak connection speed climbed 21 percent to 32.5 Mbps. Singapore tops the list with 135.7 Mbps.

NZ fixed broadband speeds falling behind global pace as mobile strengthens was first posted at billbennett.co.nz

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Bill Bennett

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