Romania ranks fifth in a top on the average internet connection speed by country/region in the first quarter of 2011, with 6.6 Mbps, according to the Akamai's State of the Internet report. Romania’s internet connection speed recorded a growth of 4.9 percent compared to the same period last year.

The fastest internet connection is reported in South Korea, with 14.4 Mbps, followed by Hong Kong with an average speed of 9.2 Mbps, and Japan with 8.1 Mbps. Romania is followed by Czech Republic with an average internet connection speed of 6.5 Mbps, Latvia with 6.3 Mbps, and Switzerland with 6.2 Mbps. The biggest year-on-year growth is reported in Belgium, where the average speed went up by 29 percent.

In the first quarter of 2011, more than 584 million unique IP addresses from 237 countries/regions connected to the Akamai Internet platform. This represents 5.2 percent more IP addresses than connected in the fourth quarter of 2010, and an increase of 20 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago, according to Akamai’s report.

Akamai's quarterly State of the Internet report is based on data collected from the globally-distributed Akamai Internet Platform, carrying as much as 30 percent of global Web traffic on any given day, and with servers located in 650 cities, 72 countries and deployed within approximately 1,000 of the Internet's most important networks. See the full report here.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Sxc.hu)