Research from CircleLoop has identified the countries with the fastest and most widely available 4G, 5G, and fixed broadband connections.
Unsurprisingly, South Korea ranks first with an overall “connected score” of 9.55 out of 10. That score reflects an average mobile download speed of 186.06 Mbps, an average fixed broadband download speed of 241.58 Mbps, and 98.3% 4G availability.
By category, the UAE leads average mobile download speed with 190.87 Mbps, narrowly outperforming South Korea. Singapore posts the highest average fixed broadband download speed at 245.5 Mbps. No country surpasses South Korea for 4G availability or average fixed broadband upload speed.
The top 10 countries are:
| 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 |
Notably, the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada did not make the top 10.
The US ranks highest among them at 15th place, followed by Canada in 19th, Australia in 23rd, and the UK in 28th.
The UK’s score of 5.64 out of 10 is mainly the result of relatively slow speeds across mobile and fixed networks. Recent expansion of full-fiber infrastructure and 5G deployments should help improve the UK’s standing over time, but those changes will take a while to show up in ranking data.
You can view the full results from the original study on CircleLoop.
(Photo by David Watkis on Unsplash)
Learn more about Digital Transformation Week North America, a virtual event on November 9–10, 2021, focusing on advanced digital transformation strategies for a “digital everything” world.