Japan has the fastest broadband speeds and the lowest cost per megabit per second of all countries surveyed, according to recent data from the OECD (see Figures 1-3). Japan enjoys costs per megabit over four times lower than that of the US. Iceland fell three places from third to sixth in global broadband penetration from Q4 2006 to Q2 2007, while the US remained at 15th place (see Figure 4). Ireland led all countries in net growth of broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants (see Figure 5). Meanwhile, in the US broadband penetration grew to 85.91% among active Internet users, up 0.6 percentage points over September 2007. Japan, France, Korea, Sweden, and New Zealand led all countries surveyed in advertised broadband download speeds (see Figure 1). Japan led all countries with an advertised 93,693 Mbits per second speed, followed by France at 44,157 Mb/s, Korea at 43,301 Mb/s, Sweden 21,423 Mb/s, and New Zealand at 13,595 Mb/s broadband speed. The UK came in 12th at 10,624 Mb/s while the US came in at 14th at 8,860 Mb/sec. Figure 1: Broadband Speed by Country Oct. 2007 Finland (31.2 equivalent USD), Germany (32.2), Switzerland (32.7), the UK (33.3), and Denmark (33.6) led all countries in the lowest average prices for broadband service (see Figure 2). The US came in 21st place at $53.1 USD for the average monthly broadband subscription fee. Mexico, Turkey, the Slovak Republic, and the Czech Republic came in with the highest average monthly rates topping out at nearly $89/month for broadband service. Figure 2: Broadband Average Monthly Price by Country Oct. 2007 Japan led all countries surveyed in price per megabit per second at $3.09 equivalent US dollars (see Figure 3). France followed at $3.7, Italy at 4.6, the UK at 5.3, and Korea at about $6 per Mb/sec. The US was 11th at $12.6 per Mb/second. Greece, Mexico, and Turkey topped all countries in price per megabit, with Turkey at $97.4 per megabit/second. Figure 3: Broadband Price per Mb/second by Country - Oct. 2007 Our April 2007 Bandwidth Report listed Iceland at third place at 29.7 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants. While Iceland crept up to 29.8 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, Switzerland, Korea, and Norway moved ahead of Iceland, behind Denmark and the Netherlands (see Figure 4). Figure 4: Broadband Penetration per 100 Inhabitants Q2-2007 Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and Australia led all countries in broadband growth from Q2 2006 to Q2 2007 (see Figure 5). The US (4.21) and the UK (4.52) were above the OECD average of 3.68 additional subscribers per 100 inhabitants over that one year period. Japan, Turkey, Portugal, Hungary, and Mexico came in last in broadband growth from Q2 2007 to Q2 2007. Figure 5: Broadband Penetration Per 100 Inhabitants Net Increase Q2 2006-Q2 2007 The US led all countries surveyed with over 66.2 million subscribers on broadband as of June 2007 (see Figure 6). Japan had less than half the broadband subscribers of the US with 27.2 million on broadband, followed by Germany at 17.5 million, Korea at 14.4 million, and the UK at 14.4 million subscribers. Figure 6: Broadband Subscribers by Country Q2 2007 US broadband penetration grew to 85.91% among active Internet users in October 2007. Narrowband users connecting at 56Kbps or less now make up 14.09% of active Internet users, down 0.6 percentage points from 14.69% in September 2007 (see Figure 7). Figure 7: Web Connection Speed Trends - Home Users (US) In October 2007, broadband penetration in US homes grew 0.6 percentage points to 85.91%, up from 84.31% in Septemer. This increase of 0.6 points is below the average increase in broadband of 0.75 points per month over the last six months (see Figure 8). Figure 8. Broadband Adoption Growth Trend - Home Users (US) As of October 2007, 94.64% of US workers connected to the Internet with broadband, up 0.45 percentage points from the 94.19% share in September. At work 5.36% connect at 56Kbps or less (see Figure 9). Figure 9: Web Connection Speed Trends - Work Users (US)Japanese Broadband World's Fastest
Source: OECD
Finland, Germany, and Switzerland Lead all Countries in Broadband Prices
Source: OECD
Japan Leads all Countries in Price per Megabit
Source: OECD
Iceland Cools off in Global Broadband Penetration Rankings
Source: OECD
Ireland Leads all Countries in Broadband Growth
Source: OECD
US Leads all Countries in Broadband Subscribers
Source: OECD
Home Connectivity in the US
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
Broadband Growth Trends in the US
Extrapolated from Nielsen//NetRatings data
Work Connectivity
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
Further Reading
By website optimization on 19 Nov 2007 AM
Comcast in the United States will have 50 Mbps of downstream and 10 Mbps of upstream soon. The bad thing is that it costs $139.95 per month!
By: Dog at October 24, 2008 4:13 AM
Comcast may offer you 50/10Mbit but what is the use if you get capped at 100GB a month?
The Netherlands may seem small, but it's also hard to find a spot where there is no internet ;-)
To me, 20/1Mbit ADSL2 for 20 euro a month with no limit whatsoever seems like a better deal than any of the US subscriptions i have seen so far.
By: Ray_NL at December 2, 2008 7:04 AM
$40 10 down, 384k up
By: danomano at December 29, 2008 4:51 PM
In Turkey we pay 1024/256 kbit connection for 30$,
and there is no alternative connection type that is cheaper than it.
By: orcun at March 25, 2009 6:05 AM
I'm getting 10 up and 1 meg down here at home...
By: Greg at April 16, 2009 7:40 PM
In India we pay around 20$ per month for a 512kbps internet connection..
By: J at July 10, 2009 5:51 AM
In uk highest is 10mb I subscribe to 8 and I get 1 to 2. Fiber optic really needs to start being rolled out... 94mb in japan!!!!!
By: Chris at July 28, 2009 3:43 PM
We have 3.1 Mbps here in Tanzania, Africa. Not sure of upstream speeds.
By: Kelvin at August 8, 2009 3:39 PM
Soon I will be getting 4 Mbps up and down, of course, this is lower then both the state and national average as I live out in the middle of nowhere.
By: RambyTZ at September 11, 2009 9:59 PM
We're getting 1Gb/1Gb here in Portugal for € 254/month.
By: G at October 14, 2009 2:34 PM
Here in Fiji we pay approx USD $ 159.00 for a 1mbps/512kbps line!!! We pray everyday in the hope that someone will offer cheaper, faster internet connections!! Takes forever to watch you tube from Fiji!!!
By: Daniel at October 19, 2009 10:54 PM
i have 50 megabit broadband did a speed test and it said i was getting 50.50 megabit a second great and i dint have a download limit either :) :) :)
By: mikey at October 21, 2009 9:11 AM
Ecuador: $20 = 100 kbps DOWN / 75 UP
$125 = 3.5 mbps DOWN / 1 mbps UP
By: Nkne at November 1, 2009 4:46 PM
India: 10$ 300 KBPS down/ 2 MBPS UP
By: Anustup at November 23, 2009 2:27 PM
Africa is the slowest and most expensive. In Nigeria, I pay about $80 for 6kb down and 4kb up!
By: Bishop at December 3, 2009 1:41 PM
In India-
We are presently getting 2Mbps (i.e.,256KBps)download speed and I don't worry about its upload speed.
I hope this will increase much by 2010.
By: Prakash at December 14, 2009 6:29 AM
in pakistan we get 500 download and 100kbps upload for $30 means 2600 rupees
By: messum at April 18, 2010 8:47 AM
broadband price varies from region to region. In my hometown in China ,I pay less $8 for 10mbps fiber lan for,but in Shanghai I pay $20 for 2mbps adsl.
Next year I may further my study to The U.S., I don't wanna use such horrendous and expensive Broadband in the most powerful country.
By: Lee at August 8, 2010 12:06 PM
256kbps+ still means broadband in India and all "high-speed" plans are capped at 2-3GB.
By: Shashank at August 18, 2010 9:02 AM
I m getting 3.1mbps down,1.8mbps upload speed@$20 in India.Max speed in India is about 32mbps for corporate, 20mbps for home use.
By: alok at August 31, 2010 5:12 PM
Serbia - 2 MB up, 256 KB down + cable TV = 20 $
By: Ivan at September 8, 2010 7:07 AM
In Turkey
I get 10 Mbit broadband for 32 USD, but the service isn't available everywhere in Turkey because it is fiber optical connection
By: Ata at September 13, 2010 5:29 AM
In Mexico we pay a little bit over $30 USD a month for a 1 MB down/500~ up (it comes bundled with phone calls and other stuff).
In the US for the same price you can get a 7 MB internet connection.
By: Joel at October 26, 2010 2:33 PM
In Bangladesh the service is very slow approximatly 20-30 kbps down and 7-10kbps up stream and the cost is too high of 20-30usd for it. Really Hush.
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