According to Coworker Lab, when analyzing the improvement of internet speeds in recent quarters, 2018 was mostly a good year. On a global scale, both download and upload speeds have increased on fixed broadband and mobile. With gigabit services continuing to expand and 5G on the horizon, the internet is an undeniable driving force of every country’s economy and a basic component of modern life.

Yet, the online ecosystem isn’t homogenous among global nations. When assessing a country’s technological advancements and online infrastructure, different countries have varying characteristics and opportunities. These differing attributes directly affect internet speed, which is affected by:

— where the individual accessing the internet is located,

— where the web destination is hosted, and

— the quality and specific network properties that the internet connection must travel through along the way.

Trends in internet speeds typically reflect a country’s political system and the state of its technological progress. For example, countries with the highest speeds are leaders in innovation and personal liberties, whereas lower speeds denote poor internet infrastructure and, in some cases, a violation of civil liberties (with censorship and government surveillance impacting equipment efficiency).

Based on data from the Speedtest Global Index, which ranks international mobile and fixed broadband speeds on a monthly basis, here are the top 15 countries in each category as of March 2019:

Fatest Mobile Global Speeds

1. Norway 67.54
2. Canada 65.90
3. Qatar 60.97
4. Netherlands 60.60
5. Australia 58.87
6. South Korea 54.89
7. United Arab Emirates 53.83
8. Singapore 53.69
9. Switzerland 51.93
10. Denmark 50.59
11. Belgium 50.57
12. Sweden 49.79
13. Malta 48.86
14. Czech Republic 48.84
15. Albania 47.98

Fastest Fixed Broadband Global Speeds

1. Singapore 199.62
2. Hong Kong (SAR) 168.69
3. Monaco 137.86
4. Romania 136.95
5. South Korea 132.63
6. Hungary 122.26
7. Sweden 120.42
8. United States 117.31
9. Switzerland 117.18
10. Liechtenstein 115.12
11. Andorra 114.84
12. Canada 114.72
13. Spain 111.13
14. France 109.83
15. Luxembourg 107.60

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the countries with the slowest mobile global speeds include Cuba, Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, and Algeria with speeds less than 6.9 Mbps, on average.

Moreover, the countries with the slowest fixed broadband speeds as of March 2019 include Algeria, Mauritania, Venezuela, Turkmenistan, and Yemen, which all come in under 4.5 Mbps.

Source: www.coworker.com