UK comes low in broadband speed rankings

The UK ranked only 26th globally for its average broadband connection speeds in the third quarter of 2009, according to the latest State of the Internet report from content delivery network provider Akamai.

While failing to make the top 10 fastest broadband countries, 73% of UK IP addresses observed by Akamai had connection speeds of above 2Mbps, according to the company.

Globally the average connection speed increased by 18% quarter-on-quarter to 1.7Mbps. However, in Europe Romania, Sweden and the Czech Republic saw quarterly declines in their average connection speeds (while maintaining positive yearly growth). At city level, Slovakia accounted for four of the top 10 fastest broadband cities in Europe during the quarter.

Akamai also reported a quarterly increase in “attack traffic”, with Russia and Brazil unseating the US and China as the leading sources.