Akamai released its 2Q2011 results of Internet statistics today. With 30% of the world’s IP packets passing through its content delivery network, they’re in a unique position to gauge average broadband speeds on a country-by-country basis.
The good news is that average global speeds have been trending upwards: Akamai reports a 43% boost in worldwide speeds from a year ago and a healthy 21% bump in the last quarter.
In the top 10 countries/regions, seven saw an increase of over 10%: an elite club that counts Japan, Denmark, Czeck Republic, Netherlands, Latvia, Switzerland, and Hong Kong as members.
The US ranks 12th, clocking in at 5.8 Mbps, but it had a healthy quarter-to-quarter increase of 9%. More encouraging broadband numbers for the US come out of Akamai’s top 100 cities ranking. Asian cities hold 71 spots, but the US has 17 metropolises in this list.
Fastest US city in this top-100 ranking? San Jose at the 9th position with an average broadband rate of 13.7 Mbps.