09 August, 2017
In fact, with a mean download speed of 16.51 Mbps, Britain comes a lowly 31st in the global rankings for broadband speed - almost three times slower than table topper Singapore at 55.13 Mbps. Cable.co.uk observed that this put the country below 20 other European countries.
In contrast, 17 of the next 30 slower speeds were seen in African countries, with seven in Asia, six in South America and one in Oceania.
Britain has been ranked 31st in the world for broadband speed, behind the majority of Europe including Romania, Lithuania and Slovenia according to new analysis.
The study found that Singapore has the fastest internet, as is often the case with these type of studies, with internet users there are able to enjoy a mean download speed of 55.13Mbps. The absolute slowest quintet of countries are; Somalia (0.62Mbps), the DR Congo, Burkina Faso, Gabon, and Yemen (0.34Mbps).
According to Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at broadband advice site Cable.co.uk, the results offer a fresh perspective on where the United Kingdom sits in the broadband world.
Using data collected by M-Lab, Cable.co.uk found that Singapore is the best country for speeds with an average speed of 55.13 Mbps followed by Sweden and Taiwan who achieved 40.16Mbps and 34.4Mbps speeds.
"The research demonstrates the value of network measurements and open data across countries to understand where countries rank against each other and to provide evidence that facilitates public learning about broadband development", explained Collin Anderson, independent researcher at M-Lab. "However, many of those ahead of us are our neighbours both in the European Union and wider Europe - clearly there are lessons to be learned both from Europe and from those topping the table".
Despite being home to some of the most technologically innovative companies in the world, the U.S. is far behind other nations when it comes to broadband download speeds. That's aggregating "more than 63 million speed tests had been carried out across the world in the 12 months up to 10 May 2017".
The UK government had previously planned to introduce a legal universal service obligation, allowing customers to demand speeds of 10Mbps.
