The state of internet in India has been improving at a very slow and unstable pace. Between Q2 2015 and Q2 2016, the average internet speed in India has improved by 54%, to 3.6 Mbps, according to the latest report from Akamai. The improved internet infrastructure in India has helped the country to improve its global ranking to 113th position in Q2 2016, from 117th position in the same quarter year before. Interestingly, the peak internet speed in India recorded in Q2 2016, 26.1 Mbps, was even slower than the average internet speed in South Korea, which has the fastest internet connection speed across the globe.
In Q2 2015, India had a global rank of 117 with an average connection speed at 2.4 Mbps. The average peak connection in the same quarter was at 18.7 Mbps as India was at 112th position globally.
The third quarter of 2015Â saw a mere 5.3 percent QoQ growth, as the average connection speed moved up to 2.5 Mbps. India, consequently, had a rank of 116. However, the average peak connection speed declined by 0.4 percent QoQ although the speed remained unchanged at 18.7 Mbps. The QoQ change pushed India to the 116th position globally.
The average connection speed increased to 2.8 Mbps in the fourth quarter. There was a significant 11 percent QoQ growth and a global rank of 114. Simultaneously, the average peak connection increased significantly to 21.2 Mbps pushing India to 115th position.
However, India started showing a significant change from Q1 2016 with average connection speed at 3.5 Mbps resulting in a 24% QoQ growth. The average peak connection speed in the same quarter was 25.5 Mbps and 20% QoQ growth.
Average Internet Speed in India Q2 2016: Slowest In APAC Region
Overall, the growth in India was not at all significant considering the state in other countries. Out of all the 15 countries surveyed in APAC region, India was the only country with average connection speed below 4 Mbps.
Average Internet Speed: APAC Region
Talking about the entire Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, South Korea has been maintaining the number one spot in average internet connection speed and number three spot in average peak connection speed since Q2 2015. But in Q1 2016, South Korea ranked 4th in average peak connection speed. In Q2 2016, South Korea was back in number one position with 27 Mbps average connection speed, despite a 7.2% QoQ decline. This was the highest in the quarter! Out of the 15 countries surveyed in the APAC region, 11 countries saw improvement in their average internet speed ranging from 0.7% in New Zealand (to 10.6 Mbps) to 29% in Indonesia (to 5.9 Mbps). Hong Kong witnessed the lowest drop by 1.9%, whereas four countries saw double-digit growth.
After India, Philippines had the second lowest average connection speed at 4.3 Mbps. However, the two major network service providers in the country announced the procurement of additional wireless spectrum to enable faster Internet services at lower costs. Even Australia’s national wholesale broadband provider announced the availability of a new satellite broadband service with speed of up to 25 Mbps.
Average Peak Internet Speed: APAC region
APAC continued to lead the world in average peak connection speed with the top three global leaders in the region being Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Overall, six countries from the APAC region secured a position among the top ten global leaders. The top three global leaders had the average peak connection speed over 100 Mbps. Indonesia was the only country in the region to report a quarterly decline of 17%. The QoQ growth ranged from 0.9% in Japan (to 85.3 Mbps) to 24% in Sri Lanka (to 43.9 Mbps).
The YoY change remained positive like the previous quarter, ranging from 14% in Japan to a whopping 355% in Indonesia.
Indonesia Is Witnessing Internet Revolution
While a majority of countries in APAC have recorded some improvement in internet infrastructure in Q2 2016, it was Indonesia where the revolution of the internet has apparently started. Indonesia was the only country in the region that has recorded more than 100% growth in average internet speed (148%) and average peak internet speed (355%). The commendable improvement in internet infrastructure has helped the country to get the eyeballs of VCs who invested $158 billion via 13 startup deals in Q2 2016.
Final Words
As per the observation made above, countries with the lowest internet infrastructure in the previous year noted the highest gains in Q2 2016. India showed no significant growth across the year. The growth rate in internet infrastructure is expected to more than double in the next one year considering the ongoing 4G revolution in India, thanks for Reliance Jio. The average internet speed in India and average peak internet speed in India is expected to better than Philippines and Vietnam, placing India in the global list of Top 100 countries by the average speed of the internet.
