Research from CircleLoop has found the countries which have the fastest and most widespread 4G, 5G, and fixed broadband connections.
South Korea, unsurprisingly, comes out on top with an overall “connected score” of 9.55 out of 10. The country’s score is based on an average mobile download speed of 186.06Mbps, fixed broadband download speed of 241.58Mbps, and 98.3 percent 4G availability.
On average mobile download speed, South Korea is just beat by the UAE which posted a result of 190.87Mbps. For fixed broadband, South Korea is just pipped by Singapore’s average result of 245.5Mbps. No country managed to beat South Korea for 4G availability or average fixed broadband upload speed.
Here are the top 10 results:
| Rank | Country | Average mobile download speed (Mbps) | Average fixed broadband download speed (Mbps) | Average mobile upload speed (Mbps) | Average fixed broadband upload speed (Mbps) | 4G availability | Has 5G been launched? | Overall connected score /10 |
| 1 | South Korea | 186.06 | 241.58 | 22.45 | 227.26 | 98.3% | Yes | 9.55 |
| 2 | Singapore | 79.25 | 245.5 | 18.23 | 225.13 | 94.2% | Yes | 8.35 |
| 3 | UAE | 190.87 | 151.09 | 30.13 | 73.32 | 91.7% | Yes | 8.19 |
| 4 | Switzerland | 104.38 | 188.69 | 24.55 | 123.00 | 93.1% | Yes | 7.81 |
| 5 | Denmark | 89.5 | 210.71 | 21.69 | 143.42 | 90.5% | Yes | 7.74 |
| 6 | Norway | 128.04 | 159.99 | 20.28 | 130.09 | 95.7% | Yes | 7.73 |
| 7 | Qatar | 181.43 | 105.2 | 25.69 | 52.79 | 89.4% | Yes | 7.4 |
| 8 | Sweden | 90.62 | 169 | 17.55 | 136.98 | 93.5% | Yes | 7.33 |
| 9 | Thailand | 50.04 | 206.81 | 15.65 | 160.77 | 93.1% | Yes | 7.28 |
| 10 | Netherlands | 107.3 | 152.94 | 22.42 | 71.66 | 95.9% | Yes | 7.25 |
Disappointingly, the USA, UK, Australia, and Canada all failed to reach the top 10.
The USA was closest at 15th place, followed by Canada in 19th, Australia in 23rd, and the UK in a miserable 28th.
The UK’s score of just 5.64/10 was primarily driven by slow internet speeds across the board. A recent uptick in the deployment of full-fibre connections and 5G should help the country to move back up the rankings but will take some time to reflect in the results.
You can view the full results here.
(Photo by David Watkis on Unsplash)
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