Australia up two places in average connection speed ranking: Akamai

Australia has moved up two positions from the previous quarter, and now ranks 42nd position globally in terms of average broadband connection speeds, according to the latest Akamai State of Internet report.

Australia's ranking improvement during Q4 2014 was due to the increase in average connection speeds, which were recorded at 7.4Mbps, representing a 6.1 percent increase quarter over quarter, and a 27 percent increase year on year.

The fourth-quarter report of 2014 showed that the positive change comes after Australia's rankings in average connection speeds slid from 41st in Q2 to 44th in Q3, with average connection speeds down 1.8 percent quarter over quarter, to 6.9Mbps.

Due to the change in ranking, it has placed Australia ahead of New Zealand in average connection speeds. New Zealand's ranking remained at 43rd place during Q4, despite seeing a 59 percent increase in average connection speeds year on year.

According to Akamai, joint efforts between Spark New Zealand, Vodafone, and Telstra to invest $70 million in a new 20Tbps cable in the Tasman Sea significantly improved connectivity to New Zealand.

Australia's average peak connection speeds during Q4 were recorded at 36.9Mbps, representing a 2.5 percent increase quarter over quarter, and a 5 percent change year on year. Despite this improvement, Australia's ranking in average peak connection speeds globally was down one position from the previous quarter, to 45th place.

According to the report, Australia's ranking for broadband connectivity, above 4Mbps, improved by three positions from the previous quarter to 44th place. This was mainly because the percentage of broadband connection was recorded at 69 percent, a 4.6 percent increase quarter on quarter, and a 28 percent increase year on year.

However, Australia's broadband connectivity ranking in comparison to New Zealand was well behind. New Zealand came in at 30th position globally for broadband connectivity above 4Mbps.

During the same quarter, Australia's global ranking for high-speed broadband connection, above 10Mbps, slipped down one position to 41st place from the previous quarter. The percentage of connectivity recorded above 10Mbps in Australia was 16 percent, up 8.6 percent quarter on quarter.

Despite this drop, Australia's ranking was still ahead of New Zealand, which ranked globally in 43rd position in terms of high broadband connectivity. But of eligible countries, Australia was ranked as one of the bottom three in terms of broadband measurements.

Japan, Turkey, and Hong Kong had the fastest broadband load times, all around two seconds. This was about one third the time measured in Australia.