Singapore is named top in global broadband rankings
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Singapore is named top in global broadband rankings

Singapore has been named as the fastest country for broadband in a worldwide speed test carried out by M-Lab and compiled by Cable.co.uk.

With an average download speed of 55.13 Mbps it sits roughly 15Mbps ahead of Sweden which ranked in second place at 40.16 Mbps. There is a further 14Mbps between Sweden and third-placed Taiwan (34.4Mbps).

This means that downloading a HD movie of 7.5Gb in Singapore, would take just over 18 minutes, in comparison to bottom-placed Yemen, where the same film would take more than two days to download.

Collin Anderson, an independent researcher at M-Lab, said: “The research demonstrates the value of network measurements and open data across countries to understand where countries rank against each other and to provide evidence that facilitates public learning about broadband development.”

Cable.co.uk analysed data from research group M-Lab, a partnership between New America’s Open Technology Institute, Google Open Source Research and Princeton University’s PlanetLab in its findings. It carried out over 63 million speed tests, within the space of 12 months, ending 10 May 2017.

Interestingly Africa accounts for more than half of the lowest ranking countries on the list, while the top 30 countries are all in either Europe or Asia. Surprisingly the US and the UK came in at 21st and 31st place respectively, with speeds of 20Mbps and 16.51Mbps each.

Commenting on the results, Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at broadband advice site Cable.co.uk, says: "These results offer us a fresh perspective on where we sit in the broadband world. Relatively speaking, we are near the top of the table. However, many of those ahead of us – some a long way ahead – are our neighbours both in the EU and wider Europe.

"Superfast rollout in the UK continues apace. Goals are being met, new initiatives undertaken and public funds being made available. However, clearly there are lessons to be learned both from Europe and from those topping the table.”

William Newton is president and EMEA MD at the commercial property and digital infrastructure rating system experts WiredScore. He said the findings highlight how far the UK market needs to come.

He explained: “Today’s findings show that great strides must be made in the UK’s digital infrastructure if it is to continue to position itself as an attractive place to do business – especially post-Brexit. By way of illustration, our own research found that nearly two in five northern tech professionals think that better internet connectivity would make Manchester a more attractive city to UK based tech companies.”

“The Government has already reaffirmed its commitment for a £400m fund for the national 5G strategy, full-fibre broadband, and plans for a universal service obligation. This will be crucial if the UK is to future-proof its global position in the digital economy,” he added

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