S Korea, Japan have world’s fastest web links

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Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong are the best wired in the world with the highest number of fast broadband connections to the Internet, according to a report by U.S.-based network provider Akamai Technologies.

South Korea boasts the world’s highest average connection speed at 14.6 megabytes per second (mbps). Japan had the second highest average connection speed of 7.9 mbps, followed by the Chinese territory of Hong Kong with 7.6 mbps, said the report.

The other countries in the top 10 are Romania, followed by Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and the Czech Republic, with the United States at 18th place, with an average speed of 3.9 mbps.

The survey classifies “broadband” connections as those of two mbps or more, and “high broadband” as five mbps or over, while link-ups at 20 mbps and better were categorized as “extremely high speed connectivity.”

In South Korea, 74% of connections were “high broadband,” the world’s top rate, while the figure was 60% in Japan, followed by Hong Kong with 46%, said the report.

The United States came 12th, with just 24% of its connections at five mbps or more.

Growing demand for online high-definition video content is driving demand for faster connections, said Akamai’s State of the Internet report for the third quarter of 2009.

“As the quantity of HD-quality media increases over time and the consumption of that media increases, end users are likely to require ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth,” the report said.