Mobile consumption and connectivity speeds increased in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to Akamai State of the Internet Report. The report focuses on annual growth in global connection speeds and mobile broadband data consumption.

Of the 105 mobile providers surveyed by Akamai Technologies 62 experienced an increase in average data usage delivered by Akamai over the prior quarter and 89 providers saw consumption increase year-over-year.  Looking at average peak connection speeds amongst the 105 providers, yearly growth was strong, with average peak connection speeds more than doubling at over 30 providers, and with 96 total providers showing year-over-year growth.

Based on data gathered from the Akamai Internet Platform, the report offers insight into key global Internet statistics such as the world’s fastest and slowest regions for connection speed, the most frequent origins of attack traffic, and the highest-performing geographies for mobile connectivity, as well as resulting trends over time.

According to the report, Taegu, South Korea ranked as city with fastest connection speed across the globe. Russia was source of largest percentage of observed attack traffic in fourth quarter, 2010. Average connection speeds increased in 162 countries year over year. Average connection speeds on surveyed mobile networks fastest in Greece.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, over 556 million unique IP addresses from 234 countries/regions connected to the Akamai Internet Platform.  This represents 4.2 percent more IP addresses than connected in the third quarter of 2010, and over 20 percent more than in the same quarter a year ago.

The top ten countries/regions accounted for nearly 70 percent of the total observed IP addresses, indicating that the majority of the world’s unique IP addresses are concentrated within a proportionally small number of geographies.  The findings are in line with an October report from the International Telecommunications Union, which identified that “while 71 percent of the population in developed countries are online, only 21 percent of the population in developing countries are online.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, the report’s analysis of the top 100 fastest cities around the world, based on average connection speeds, reflected the following: Cities in Asia dominate the list, which includes 60 cities in Japan and 16 cities in South Korea. Constanta, Romania remained the fastest city in Europe. Only 8 U.S. cities made the list, with Riverside, CA ranking as the fastest U.S. city.

When looking at the world’s narrowband connections, which represent connections to Akamai at speeds slower than 256 Kbps, the global level of narrowband adoption increased modestly in the fourth quarter of 2010, ending the year at just below 4 percent. Mayotte remained the “slowest” country, registering 98-99 percent narrowband adoption throughout 2010.  60 countries/regions around the world recorded narrowband adoption levels below the global figure of 3.9 percent in the fourth quarter.

By TelecomLead.com Team

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