Bangalore, February 7, 2014: India's Internet speeds are the lowest in the Asia Pacific region and almost rock bottom worldwide, finds the latest ‘State of the Internet’ ( for third quarter 2013) released by – Akamai Technologies.
Not just that: India seems to be going backwards with time -- it is one of few nations that has seen a decline in the Internet connect speed over recent quarters -- a damning indictment of government apathy in putting its money where its mouth is -- after regular hype about empowering its 1.2 billion citizens with IT-driven technologies.

Here is what the report says about Asia Pacific, a region of startling contrasts, being home to the world's fastest Internet services ( Hong Kong) and one of the slowest ( India):
Hong Kong’s 65.4 Mbps average peak connection speed continued to rank it first both globally and in the Asia Pacific region. However, after a 19% quarterly increase, South Korea is not far behind, with a 63.6 Mbps average peak connection speed in the third quarter. Japan and Singapore joined Hong Kong and South Korea in having average peak connection speeds above 50 Mbps, with Singapore just barely making it past at 50.1 Mbps. Among the other surveyed Asia Pacific countries/regions, only Indonesia and India had average peak connection speeds below 10 Mbps as a result of both countries seeing a 15% quarterly decline, with India’s 9.0 Mbps average peak connection speed the lowest in the region.

The report provides these details about India:
% age attack traffic: 1.9%
Unique IP addresses: 18,371,345
Average connection speed 1.4
Peak connection speed : 9.0
%age above 10 MBPS: 0.3%
%age above 4 MBPS: .0%

Other highlights from Akamai’s Third Quarter, 2013 State of the Internet Report:
Global Average and Average Peak Connection Speeds
The global average connection speed continued its upward trend in the third quarter of 2013, climbing 10% over the previous quarter to 3.6 Mbps. A total of 122 countries/regions that qualified for inclusion saw average connection speeds increase during the third quarter, with growth ranging from 0.5 percent in Namibia (to 1.1 Mbps) to a 76 percent increase in Nepal (to 3.6 Mbps).
Average connection speeds saw a 29 percent year-over-year increase, with all of the top 10 countries/regions climbing 27 percent or more. Globally, 133 qualifying countries/regions saw year-over-year increases in average connection speeds, from 0.2 percent in Egypt (to 1.2 Mbps) to 259 percent in Réunion (to 6.8 Mbps).
Global average peak connection speeds showed a slight decline in the third quarter of 2013, dropping 5.2 percent to 17.9 Mbps. Seven of the top 10 countries/regions saw increases in average peak connection speeds during the quarter, ranging from 0.5 percent in Hong Kong (to 65.4 Mbps) to 19 percent in South Korea (to 63.6 Mbps). Meanwhile, Romania, Latvia and Belgium saw declines of 4.4, 3.3 and 3.6 percent to 45.4, 43.1 and 38.5 Mbps, respectively.
Year over year, the global average peak connection speed grew 13 percent over the third quarter of 2012. Yearly increases among the top 10 countries/regions ranged from 15 percent in Latvia to 63 percent in Singapore. Worldwide, 115 qualifying countries/regions showed yearly growth in average connection speeds, with increases ranging from 0.3 percent in South Africa (to 11.9 Mbps) to 111 percent in Palestine (to 19.9 Mbps).
Global high broadband (>10 Mbps) adoption rose 31 percent quarter-over-quarter to reach 19 percent. Global broadband (>4 Mbps) adoption improved 5.8 percent over the quarter to reach 53 percent.
“In the third quarter of 2013, we observed that long-term growth in average and average peak connection speeds remained strong, as did growth in global broadband and high broadband adoption rates. We believe these trends point to continued improvement in the quality and performance of Internet connectivity in countries around the world,” said David Belson, the report’s editor.
Attack Traffic and Security
Akamai observed attack traffic originating from 185 unique countries/regions during the third quarter of 2013, up 10 over the previous quarter. China, which originated 35 percent of observed attacks, returned to the top spot this quarter after having been unseated by Indonesia in the second quarter. Indonesia, meanwhile, dropped back to second place after originating 20 percent of observed attacks – slightly more than half of the volume seen in the second quarter. The United States remained in third place as it originated 11 percent of observed attacks during the third quarter, up from 6.9 percent in the previous quarter.
Global Internet Penetration
More than 760 million unique IPv4 addresses from 239 unique countries/regions connected to the Akamai Intelligent Platform during the third quarter of 2013, a 1.1 percent increase over the second quarter and an 11 percent increase year over year. Since a single IP address can represent multiple individuals in some cases – such as when users access the Web through a firewall or proxy server – Akamai estimates the total number of unique Web users connecting to its platform during the quarter to be well over one billion.
The number of unique IPv4 address seen by the Akamai Intelligent Platform worldwide rose by more than eight million over the quarter, with growth observed in six of the top 10 countries. Year over year, the number of global unique IPv4 addresses connecting to Akamai grew by more than 123 million, with nine of the top 10 countries/regions showing growth.
IPv6 Adoption
For the first time, the State of the Internet Report includes data leveraged directly from the Akamai Intelligent platform to provide insights into IPv6 adoption across numerous vectors. European countries have taken a clear lead in IPv6 adoption, with seven of the top 10 countries. Conversely, only one country in Asia Pacific (Japan) is among the top 10.

Mobile Connectivity
Average connection speeds on surveyed mobile network operators during the third quarter of 2013 ranged from a high of 9.5 Mbps to a low of 0.6 Mbps, while average peak connection speeds ranged from 49.8 Mbps to 2.4 Mbps. Eighteen operators showed average connection speeds in the broadband (>4 Mbps) range. According to data collected by Ericsson, the volume of mobile traffic increased by approximately10 percent during the third quarter and grew by 80 percent year over year.

To complement the report, Akamai’s State of the Internet app was introduced today; a new app that brings the State of the Internet to users’ iPhones and iPads. The app provides easy access to interactive State of the Internet data such as unique IP addresses, attack volume, connection speeds and broadband adoption, along with current and past quarterly reports as well as related news. Akamai’s State of the Internet app is available now in the Apple App Store.

Linbk to  Full report: