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TECHNOLOGY
Ranked: Countries With the Fastest Mobile Internet Speeds
Published December 2, 2024
The world’s fastest internet speeds are clustered in the Middle East and Asia, significantly outpacing average mobile download speeds in America.
While 1.5 billion new people have started using the internet since 2018, there are clear divides in both mobile speeds and data traffic across regions. Overall, median mobile broadband speeds are five times faster in high-income countries compared to low-income countries. Adding to this, there is 20 times more median mobile broadband traffic per capita in high-income countries.
This graphic shows the countries with the fastest internet in the world, based on data from the World Bank.
With the fastest mobile download speeds globally, the UAE takes the top spot.
The country has emerged as an internet powerhouse since it began ramping up investment in digital infrastructure in 2012. This has led internet speeds to become roughly 100 times faster in the nation’s capital over the last decade. In fact, thanks to new rollouts from a domestic telecom operator, mobile internet speeds will soon be even three times faster for some users.
Neighbouring country Qatar has the second-fastest median mobile download speeds worldwide.
As the top country in Asia, South Korea ranks first overall across OECD countries according to fiber-optic cable penetration, a critical source of internet infrastructure. In fact, there are over 1.5 million miles of fiber cable networks across the country according to estimates from S&P Global. These cables transmit information through glass strands of pulsing light over long distances, similar to how electricity moves through wires.
In Europe, Norway and Denmark are home to the fastest mobile download speeds, a trend broadly seen over the last decade. By contrast, Ireland and Spain have some of the slowest speeds.
How does America stack up? Ranking in eighteenth overall, mobile download speeds lag behind several high-income countries largely due to telecom monopolies in the country.
Not only is the internet sluggish compared to other rich nations, but also the costs are higher for Americans. In fact, the average cost of one gigabyte of mobile data in the U.S. is at least seven times more expensive than in countries including Spain, China, France, and Brazil.
