The average speed of broadband connections in the United States has reached 5 Mbps in Q3 of 2010, up 8.6% over the previous quarter, making it the biggest percentage gainer among the world's 12 fastest connected nation's, Akamai reported today.
While far behind South Korea, the fastest nation, 14 Mbps, U.S. ranks number 12, up from its position of 18 in Q3 of 2009. It is catching up with Europe's fastest nation Romania, which has an average connection speed of 7 Mbps. (See graph below.)
For a perspective of the fast increases in connectivity in the Unites States, we received this statement from David Belson, Director of Market Intelligence at Akamai Technologies:
“The accelerated growth of average connection speeds within the United States that we observed in the third quarter is likely due to a number of factors, including an improving economy and general growth in the number of broadband subscribers. These faster speeds ultimately enable greater consumption of digital media online, as well as greater usage of rich media within commerce and enterprise applications – trends that are clearly reflected across our customers.”
In November at the Monaco Media Forum, we spoke with Akamai president David Kenny for chat about video delivery via Apps, online video ads and global content delivery. We have republished the interview today.
Andy Plesser
