Countries in Europe enjoy the fastest average broadband connectivity globally, according to a report from global content delivery network Akamai. Details of the report, which is scheduled to appear later this week and revealed by GigaOm, defines a high-speed broadband connection as one that connected to the Akamai network in excess of 5Mbps.

The report shows that seven of the top 10 fastest connected countries are European, with the Netherlands the most connected of that group high-speed broadband penetration of 67 per cent. Others in the top 10 were Belguim, Switzerland, Latvia, Romania, Czech Republic and Denmark. However, the Dutch have to play second fiddle to South Koreas, which tops the overall list with a incredible high-speed broadband penetration figure of 83 per cent. Japan and Hong Kong comes in at 60 per cent and 57 per cent respectively, and the United States comes in 12th with 44 per cent.

The UK does not trouble the top 10 list and we await the full report to discover its placing. However, based on the report, the UK government’s stated aim of bringing of at least 2Mbps to every home and business appears to be decidedly under ambitious.

The report also focuses on the 100 fastest connected cities and the average speeds of the fastest cities were between 21.8Mbps and 8.5Mbs. The overall average was brought up by the peak speeds of the South Korean cities of Taejon and Taegu, which recorded speeds of 59.2Mbps and 56.7Mbps respectively.

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