Global Average Connection Speed Increases 15 Percent Year over Year, According to Akamai's 'First Quarter, 2017 State of the Internet Report'

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the world's largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, announced today the release of its First Quarter, 2017 State of the Internet Report. Based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform, the report provides insight into key global statistics such as connection speeds, broadband adoption metrics, notable Internet disruptions, IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 implementation.

Data and graphics from the First Quarter, 2017 State of the Internet Report can be found on the Akamai State of the Internet site and through the Akamai State of the Internet app for iOS and Android devices. State of the Internet Report-related discussions are also taking place on the Akamai Community.

"Increases in connection speeds and broadband penetration have helped enable the Internet to support levels of traffic that even just a few years ago would have been unimaginable," said David Belson, editor of the State of the Internet Report. "One need only look to January's U.S. Presidential Inauguration, which broke traffic records for live coverage of a single news event delivered by Akamai, largely thanks to the combination of more viewers watching at increasingly higher levels of video quality." 

Highlights from Akamai's First Quarter, 2017 State of the Internet Report:

Global Average and Peak Connection Speeds and Global Broadband Adoption

• Global average connection speed was 7.2 Mbps (an increase of 15% year over year).
• Global average peak connection speed increased 28% year over year to 44.6 Mbps in the first quarter.
• South Korea again had the highest average connection speed globally at 28.6 Mbps in the first quarter.
• Singapore had the highest peak connection speed at 184.5 Mbps in the first quarter.
• Global 4, 10, 15 and 25 Mbps broadband adoption rates increased 13%, 29%, 33% and 42% year over year, respectively.

IPv4 and IPv6

• In the first quarter of 2017, more than 814 million unique IPv4 addresses connected to the Akamai Intelligent Platform, which is a 0.7% increase as compared to the first quarter of 2016.
• Belgium remained the clear global leader in IPv6 adoption with 38% of its connections to Akamai occurring over IPv6 (down 19% from the previous quarter).

Mobile

• Average mobile connection speeds ranged from a high of 26 Mbps in the United Kingdom to a low of 2.8 Mbps in Venezuela.
• Germany had the highest peak mobile connection speed at 200 Mbps in the first quarter.
• Among the qualifying surveyed countries/regions, 37 had an average mobile connection speed at or exceeding the 10 Mbps broadband threshold (up from 30 in the previous quarter), while 70 achieved average speeds at or above the 4 Mbps broadband level (up from 58).

Disruptions

• Traffic to Gabon on Feb. 18^th and 19^th dropped to approximately 25% of normal levels due to an outage of uknown cause that affected eight of the country's networks.
• The Iraqi government continued its practice of blocking Internet access to prevent cheating during national middle- and high-school exams, impacting traffic on several days in February.
• Due to a cut in a submarine cable providing connectivity to Madagascar, traffic to the country dropped suddenly and significantly on Jan. 25^th and did not recover to normal levels until nearly three weeks later.
• A submarine cable break also impacted traffic to the Marshall Islands for more than three weeks during which Internet access was restricted to email only, with certain businesses allowed web access on a rotating basis.

About the Akamai State of the Internet Report
Each quarter, Akamai publishes a "State of the Internet – Connectivity" report. This report includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform about broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics concerning the Internet and its usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time. For additional information on the metrics in the report and how they are analyzed, please visit http://akamai.me/sotimetrics2016. To learn more and to access the archive of past reports, please visit https://www.akamai.com/us/en/our-thinking/state-of-the-internet-report/global-state-of-the-internet-connectivity-reports.jsp. To download the figures from the First Quarter, 2017 State of the Internet Report, please visit: http://wwwns.akamai.com/soti/soti_q117_figures.zip.

About Akamai 
As the world's largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, Akamai makes it easier for its customers to provide the best and most secure digital experiences on any device, anytime, anywhere. Akamai's massively distributed platform is unparalleled in scale with over 200,000 servers across 130 countries, giving customers superior performance and threat protection. Akamai's portfolio of web and mobile performance, cloud security, enterprise access, and video delivery solutions are supported by exceptional customer service and 24/7 monitoring. To learn why the top financial institutions, e-commerce leaders, media & entertainment providers, and government organizations trust Akamai please visit www.akamai.com, blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on Twitter.

SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.

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