Cities with the best internet speeds revealed - with London coming in 76th place

The cities with the best internet speeds have been revealed – and it’s bad news for Britons.

Ookla analysed the average mobile internet and broadband speeds in 200 cities across 179 countries around the world last month.

In terms of mobile internet, Dubai came out on top followed by Ar-Rayyan, Beijing and Shanghai, while Beijing, Abu Dhabi and Shanghai topped the list for broadband speeds.

Unfortunately for Britons, London came in a dismal 42nd place for mobile internet speeds and 76th place for broadband speeds, while Manchester came in 38th place for mobile internet and 82nd for broadband.

‘It’s official, London is lagging, with the capital still miles behind its world city rivals when it comes to internet speeds,’ said Alex Tofts, broadband expert at Broadband Genie, who was not involved in the study.

Ookla analysed the average mobile internet and broadband speeds in 200 cities across 179 countries around the world last month

London came in a dismal 42nd place for mobile internet speeds and 76th place for broadband speeds

Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index ranks the internet performance around the world.

‘Our list includes the two largest cities from each country,’ Ookla explained.

‘The cities must also have over 500,000 inhabitants and sufficient samples to be included.

‘They are ranked according to median download speed based on Speedtest data from the month prior.’

Cities with the best broadband speeds in January 2023

1. Beijing – 277.57Mbps

2. Abu Dhabi – 247.47Mbps

3. Shanghai – 236.01Mbps

4. Bangkok – 228.29Mbps

5. New York – 224.86Mbps

6. Valparaiso – 222.08Mbps

7. Madrid – 213.98Mbps

8. Lyon – 213.95Mbps

9. Geneva – 210.56Mbps

10. Bucharest – 208.90Mbps

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Cities with the worst broadband speeds in January 2023

1. Aleppo – 1.57Mbps

2. Havana – 1.68Mbps

3. Kabul – 1.86Mbps

4. Ashgabat – 2.32Mbps

5. Damascus – 2.66Mbps

6. Sana’a – 3.47Mbps

7. Aden – 4.00Mbps

8. Addis Ababa – 4.10Mbps

9. Niamey – 4.60Mbps

10. Khartoum – 5.37Mbps

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At a city level, Dubai came out on top for mobile internet, with residents enjoying impressive speeds of 204.37Mbps on average.

European cities in the top 10 include Oslo (175.01Mbps), Copenhagen (174.85Mbps) and Stockholm (146.29Mbps).

However, in the UK it’s quite a different story, with Londoners only experiencing speeds of 67.01Mbps on average, while those in Manchester have a marginally better experience of 70.5Mbps.

In terms of broadband speeds, Beijing tops the list (277.57Mbps), followed by Abu Dhabi (247.57Mbps), Shanghai (236.01Mbps) and Bangkok (228.29Mbps).

London comes in 76th place with average speeds of 79.13Mbps, while Manchester is in 82nd place, with average speeds of 74.10Mbps.

In terms of broadband speeds, Beijing (pictured) tops the list (277.57Mbps), followed by Abu Dhabi (247.57Mbps), Shanghai (236.01Mbps) and Bangkok (228.29Mbps)

Ookla also looked at the average internet speeds at a country level. Singapore, Chile and China topped the list for broadband speeds

‘In 2015, a cross-party group of London’s MPs said it was “unacceptable” for the city to be trailing European rivals on broadband, yet eight years on the gap seems to be as big as ever,’ Mr Tofts said.

‘Paris enjoys average download speeds of 164.61 Mb — more than twice as quick as the Big Smoke, while Bucharest and Bogota are also putting us to shame.

‘If you wanted to download the new Hogwarts Legacy game in London it would take you nearly two-and-a-half hours, while in Beijing it would take around 40 minutes.

‘Meanwhile Manchester, the only other UK city on the list, is 82nd just behind the Bulgarian capital Sofia, with a rate of 74.10 Mb, below the global average of 76.34 Mb.’

Ookla also looked at the average internet speeds at a country level.

For mobile internet, the United Arab Emirates came out on top, followed by Qatar, Norway and South Korea, while Singapore, Chile and China topped the list for broadband speeds.

The UK was ranked number 42 for mobile internet, and number 54 for broadband.

Manchester came in 38th place for mobile internet and 82nd for broadband

Countries with the best broadband speeds in January 2023

1. Singapore – 234.55Mbps

2. Chile – 224.84Mbps

3. China – 211.34Mbps

4. UAE – 207.41Mbps

5. Hong Kong – 206.71Mbps

6. Thailand – 201.81Mbps

7. Monaco – 200.70Mbps

8. US – 195.31Mbps

9. Denmark – 195.26Mbps

10. Spain – 172.67Mbps

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Countries with the worst broadband speeds in January 2023

1. Cuba – 1.84Mbps

2. Afghanistan – 1.94Mbps

3. Turkmenistan – 2.32Mbps

4. Syria – 3.02Mbps

5. Yemen – 4.29Mbps

6. Niger – 4.57Mbps

7. Sudan – 4.98Mbps

8. Ethiopia – 5.00Mbps

9. Burundi – 5.53Mbps

10. Swaziland – 5.59Mbps

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‘As a whole, the UK is ranked 54th in the world,’ Mr Tofts added.

‘Its 72.24 Mb speed means it’s sandwiched between Barbados and Peru, behind 16 of the 27 EU countries and two places down in January 2022.

‘Compared with the likes of China, the US and Denmark, which lead the way on global download speeds, the UK is currently an also-ran and it shows how desperately upgrades are needed to our broadband infrastructure.

‘To make us more competitive and help our businesses, the Government must make good on its Project Gigabit pledges to roll out 1,000 Mb download speeds.

‘For millions across the country, it can’t come soon enough.’

WHAT ARE THE PLANS TO SUPPLY THE WORLD WITH INTERNET?

Internet access was declared as a basic human right in 2016 by the United Nations.

However many people around the world struggle to get online due to a lack of infrastructure or extortionate costs.

Worldwide, 3.8 billion people remain without fast and reliable broadband service, according to the application.

Several companies have since launched endeavours to provide coverage around the world.

Amazon has launched Project Kuiper which it describes as ‘a long-term initiative to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world.’

The firm has recently filed an application with the FCC to launch more than 3.000 low Earth orbit satellite into space to help with the project.

The satellites will orbit 589km to 629km (366 to 391 miles) above Earth.

The ROK GROUP will be launching a City Wide Wi-Fi network across 25 Indian cities.

The move comes in line with the Indian Government’s efforts to provide internet access to every Indian City.

Wide Wi-Fi Network will offer internet access across large portions of India and will be operated in association with BSNL.

It was founded with one purpose, to bring high-speed internet to India.

Elon Musk’s STARLINK project pioneers the use of low-orbit satellites to provide more efficient internet for the world.

SpaceX intends to start launching operational satellites as early as 2019, with the goal of reaching the full capacity of 4,425 satellites in 2024.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have approved the plan, which just requires SpaceX to launch 50 per cent of the satellites by March 2024, and all of them by March 2027.

They are the first in a constellation of thousands of satellites, designed to provide low-cost broadband internet service from low Earth orbit.

FACEBOOK is working on plans for project ‘Simba’, named after the Lion King character, an underwater cable that will circle the continent with landings on multiple coasts.

Facebook is in talks to develop an underwater data cable that would encircle the continent, according to people familiar with the plans, an effort aimed at driving down its bandwidth costs and making it easier for the social media giant to sign up more users.

GOOGLE‘s underwater cable plans are much further along, as it has confirmed construction plans for a cable connecting Portugal and South Africa.

Google’s cable, named Equiano, will have 20 times the capacity of the most recent projects laid in the region and will first branch out in Nigeria—Africa’s largest internet market.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk