“While we have seen an increase in the number of unique IPv4 addresses connecting to Akamai, the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for North America saw its available inventory of IPv4 address space completely exhausted,” said David Belson, Editor of the State of the Internet Report. “The continued depletion of IPv4 address space, both in North America and around the world, should further incentivize organizations to expand or accelerate their own IPv6 adoption, particularly as the cost of acquiring IPv4 address space may increase as scarcity grows.”
Key takeaways from Akamai’s Q3 2015 State of the Internet Europe Report:
Average and Peak Connection Speeds: Positive growth trends continue in Europe.
• Global average connection speed increased slightly (0.2%) to 5.1 Mbps from Q2, representing a 14% year-over-year increase.
• South Korea had the highest average connection speed at 20.5 Mbps, followed by Sweden (17.4 Mbps), Norway (16.4 Mbps), and Switzerland (16.2 Mbps).
• Without exception, all European countries surveyed experienced quarter-over-quarter increases in average connection speed, with double-digit gains recorded by Norway (15%) and the UK (10%).
• After a 12% quarter-over-quarter increase in Q2, global average peak connection speed declined by just 0.9% to 32.2 Mbps in Q3. However, year over year, the global average peak connection speed grew by 30%. At 135.4 Mbps, Singapore maintained its position as the country/region with the highest average peak connection speed; in Europe, Romania (72.9 Mbps) and Sweden (69 Mbps) topped the list.
In the third quarter, 13 European countries had an average peak connection speed of at least 50 Mbps: Romania, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, the Czech Republic, and Denmark. Year over year, Spain saw the largest increase in average peak connection speed at 48%, followed by Norway (35%) and France (34%); overall, 17 of the 20 European countries studied saw double-digit growth.
Broadband Connectivity: European countries dominated the global list of the top 10 countries/regions in 25 Mbps adoption
. Globally, 5.2% of unique IP addresses connected to Akamai at an average speed of at least 25 Mbps, a 6.3% increase over the previous quarter. South Korea retained its position as the global leader in 25 Mbps adoption, with nearly one in four IP addresses connecting to Akamai at an average speed exceeding this threshold. Sweden came in second, registering a 26% quarterly increase to reach 19% adoption. An analysis of year-over-year growth reveals that Portugal led the world with a 203% increase (5.2% adoption), thanks to a surge in fiber-to-the-home connections in recent quarters.
• A total of seven European countries appeared in the top 10 countries/regions for 25 Mbps adoption: Sweden (No. 2), Norway (No. 3), Latvia (No. 4), Switzerland (No. 6), Finland (No. 8), the Netherlands (No. 9), and the Czech Republic (No. 10). Quarterly increases among these countries ranged from 14% in Sweden to 48% in Norway.
• The overall percentage of unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai that reached the 25 Mbps broadband speed threshold increased by 2.7% to 65%. In Europe, a total of nine countries achieved 4 Mbps adoption rates of 90% or higher: the Netherlands (95%), Denmark (94%), Romania (94%), Switzerland (93%), Sweden (92%), Belgium (91%), Finland (91%), Austria (90%), and Hungary (90%).
• In the third quarter of 2015, 27% of unique IP addresses worldwide connected to Akamai at an average speed of over 10 Mbps, a 2.4% increase over the previous quarter. Year over year, this represented a 19% increase. In Europe, Switzerland and the Netherlands led the way in the third quarter, with adoption rates of 61% and 60%, respectively. Year-over-year gains among the European countries surveyed ranged from 11% in Switzerland to 77% in Spain.
• 15% of unique global IP addresses connected to Akamai at an average “4K-ready” connection speed of 15 Mbps or higher, a 5.3% increase compared to the second quarter. Year over year, the global adoption rate of 15 Mbps grew by 21%, with seven of the top 10 countries/regions experiencing gains ranging from 8.9% in Latvia (31% adoption) to 73% in Norway (37% adoption).
In Q3, a total of 12 European countries with at least one of five IP addresses connected to Akamai at speeds exceeding 15 Mbps. Year-over-year changes were positive for all European countries studied. Spain and Germany saw their 15 Mbps adoption rates more than double, registering gains of 111% and 104% respectively, while seven other countries achieved annual growth rates of over 50%: Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, France, and Italy.
IPv4 and IPv6: European countries continued to lead the global adoption of IPv6.
• Partially offsetting the decline in the second quarter, the number of unique global IPv4 addresses connecting to Akamai increased by approximately 4.8 million in the third quarter.
• Globally, nearly 60% of the countries/regions surveyed saw a quarterly increase in the number of unique IPv4 addresses in the third quarter. Of the three European countries in the global top 10, Germany and France experienced quarterly growth of 1.2% and 0.9%, respectively, while the UK saw no change in its IPv4 address count.
• European countries continued to dominate the list of the top 10 countries/regions in IPv6 adoption, occupying eight of the 10 positions with the highest percentage of content requests made to Akamai over IPv6 in the third quarter of 2015.
• Despite a quarterly decrease of 8.4%, Belgium maintained a clear lead, with 35% of its content requests made over IPv6.
• Verizon Wireless (72%) and Telenet (53%) in Belgium continued to lead as the two companies with more than half of their requests to Akamai made over IPv6.
• Nine of the top 20 providers had at least one in four requests to Akamai via IPv6, a decrease from 11 in the second quarter. However, the top 20—an increase from 17 in the previous quarter—had at least 10% of their requests to Akamai made over IPv6.
Spain – Third Quarter 2015
• The average connection speed in Spain was 10.4 Mbps, representing a 34% year-on-year increase.
• The average peak connection speed in Spain was 53.5 Mbps, a 48% year-on-year increase.
• 17% of connections were made at speeds exceeding 15 Mbps, a 111% year-on-year increase.
• 34% of connections were made at speeds exceeding 10 Mbps, a 77% year-on-year increase.
• 85% of connections were made at speeds exceeding 4 Mbps, a 13% year-on-year increase.
