Average peak broadband connection speeds were recorded at 35.2 megabits per second (Mbps) in Australia during Q4 of 2013, up 46 per cent on the same period in 2012, according to a new global report.
Akamai Technologies’ Q4 2013 State of the Internet report analysed broadband data from 238 countries, including Australia.
According to the report, Hong Kong was ranked first in terms of average peak broadband connection speeds with 68 Mbps. This was followed by South Korea (64.4 Mbps), Singapore (59.1), Israel (54.6), Japan (53.7), Taiwan (50.9), Romania (50.6), Latvia (48.8), Switzerland (44.2) and the United States (43.7).
The average broadband connection speed in Australia was recorded at 5.8Mbps, a 27 per cent increase on the same quarter in 2012, the report found.
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According to the findings, South Korea was ranked first for its average broadband connection speed with 21.9 Mbps. This was followed by Japan (12.8), Netherlands (12.4), Hong Kong (12.2), Switzerland (12), Czech Republic (11.4), Sweden (10.5), Latvia (10.4), Ireland (10.4) and the United States (10).
According to Akamai’s findings, Australia was ranked 37th in terms of high broadband connectivity (10 Mbps and over), this was the same position as Q3 of 2013.
Connectivity of 10 Mbps or more made up 9.7 per cent of total broadband connections in Australia, this was up 19 per cent quarter on quarter.
The report also found that Australia came in at place 44 for broadband connectivity above 4 Mbps, up from 43 in Q3 of 2013. Broadband connectivity above 4 Mbps was 54 per cent, this was a 36 per cent increase compared to 2012.
DDoS attacks
Turning to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, Akamai’s customers reported 1,153 DDoS attacks in 2013 – a 50 per cent increase from 768 in 2012.
“Enterprise and financial services continued to be the industries targeted most frequently by the reported DDoS attacks in Q4 at 159 attacks and 82 attacks respectively,” read the report.
Enterprise and financial services firms accounted for almost 70 per cent of reported DDoS attacks during Q4 while 49 per cent of total attacks were reported by customers in North America, which includes the United States and Canada.
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