The internet culture has pervaded almost every part of the globe, with more than a billion people on the planet having access to internet. With mobile data connections cropping up in every city, town and suburb, and newer smart devices proliferating the market, more and more people are expected to be connected to the internet and the internet culture may just become the biggest cultural revolution in the history of mankind as we change our living habits to capitalize on the ease of finding information, communicating and executing a host of daily transactions that the internet brings to everyone. In its quarterly 'State of the Internet' Report, Akamai Technologies provides key global statistics on the use of internet, covering a host of aspects such as network connectivity, connection speeds, attack traffic and broadband usage. Leveraging its Akamai Intelligent Platform, Akamai found that the average global Internet speed has increased 5.2 percent quarter-over-quarter to 3.3 Mbps. In an even better news, it found that the average global Internet speed has increased 9.2 percent year-over-year as countries around the world gain access to faster Internet speeds. The report also surprised readers with data showing that Indonesia has taken the first place in the share of attack traffic, making up 38 percent of the total from an earlier 21 percent in the first quarter and followed by China with a share of 33 percent (down from 34 percent) while U.S. came third with a share of 6.9 percent (down from 8.3 percent in Q1).
Excerpts from the Report
Global Average and Peak Connection Speeds
'Global average peak connection speeds increased slightly during the second quarter of 2013, up 0.1 percent to 18.9 Mbps. Among the top 10 countries/regions that saw higher average peak connection speeds in the quarter, increases ranged from 3.1 percent in Japan (to 48.8 Mbps) to 22 percent in Taiwan (to 39.5 Mbps). Hong Kong continued to maintain the number one ranking at 65.1 Mbps, and South Korea crossed the 50 Mbps threshold, coming in second at 53.3 Mbps'.
Attack Traffic and Security
'In the second quarter, Akamai observed attack traffic originating from 175 unique countries/regions, two fewer than was observed in the first quarter of 2013. Indonesia pushed China out of the top spot this quarter, nearly doubling its first-quarter traffic from 21 percent to 38 percent, while China moved to second at 33 percent (down from 34 percent). The United States remained in third even after dropping to 6.9 percent in the second quarter from 8.3 percent in the first quarter. The top 10 countries/regions generated 89 percent of observed attacks, up from 82 percent in the previous quarter. Like the first quarter, Indonesia and China again originated more than half of the total observed attack traffic'.
Global Internet Penetration
'More than 752 million unique IPv4 addresses from 242 unique countries/regions connected to the Akamai Intelligent Platform, a 2 percent quarter-over-quarter increase and 13 percent more than the second quarter of 2012. 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.'
Mobile Connectivity
'During the second quarter of 2013, average connection speeds on surveyed mobile network operators ranged from a high of 9.7 Mbps to a low of 0.5 Mbps. Eleven operators demonstrated average connection speeds in the broadband (>4 Mbps) range, and 62 operators showed average connection speeds above 1 Mbps. Data collected by Ericsson shows that the volume of mobile data traffic grew 14 percent during the quarter and nearly doubled year-over-year'.
"The Second Quarter, 2013 State of the Internet Report notes some significant milestones and trends, including the fact that half of all connections to Akamai occurred at speeds of 4 Mbps or higher, a 25 percent increase since the first quarter of 2012," said David Belson, the report's editor. "We also saw a decline in the number of countries/regions with average connection speeds of 1 Mbps or less - down to 11 from 14 in the last quarter - likely indicative of improved broadband connectivity across some of the slowest geographies. These positive trends bode well for the continued increase and adoption of broadband connectivity around the world." Source - Akamai (Oct 16, 2013)
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