Despite being ahead of most countries when it comes to broadband speeds, the UK still falls behind 30 others – including 20 in Europe – new data reveals.
Singapore ranks as the world’s fastest country with an average speed of 55.13Mbps whilst Yemen, which is more than 162 times slower, records 0.34Mbps.
Cable.co.uk, which undertook the study, said it would take Yemen two entire days to download a high definition movie, compared to just 18 minutes for Singapore.
By comparison, the UK sits in 31st place with an average speed of 16.51Mbps. Sweden has the fastest internet in Europe at 40.16 mbps.
20 of the top 30 fastest-performing countries are located in Europe, with 7 in Asia, 2 in North America and 1 in Oceania, whilst 17 of the top 30 slowest-performing countries are located in Africa with 7 in Asia, 6 in South America and 1 in Oceania.
The data also shows that 139 countries failed to reach 10Mbps, which is deemed by Ofcom to be the minimum average speed required to handle typical family needs or to run a small business.
“These results offer us a fresh perspective on where we sit in the broadband world,” said Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at Cable.co.uk.
“Relatively speaking, we are near the top of the table. However, many of those ahead of us are our neighbours both in the EU and wider Europe – clearly there are lessons to be learned both from Europe and from those topping the table.”
“Not least the importance of reaching those with the lowest speeds, predominantly in very rural and/or hard-to-reach areas, but also greater investment in hyperfast fibre to the home (FTTH) networks.”
