There is nothing as boring as slow internet speed, more so when you have an urgent issue or application to make online. In the age of today when most services be it business-wise or government are offered online, internet speed is a matter of utmost concern. Average internet speeds vary wildly from country to country. Generally speaking, the countries with the fastest internet speeds are likely to be smaller and more developed. The larger and less developed a nation is, the slower the internet will likely be. By large extent, internet speed depends on:
- Infrastructure or the type of cabling (copper or fiber-optic) that a country’s utilizing to support their internet service. Typically, the newer the infrastructure, the faster the connection.
- Proximity/connection to submarine cables is important, as these massive undersea fiber-optic cables transmit about 97% of the world’s communication data.
- The size of a country, since landmass affects how much it costs to upgrade infrastructure. The smaller the country, the cheaper it is to upgrade cabling.
- Investment makes a difference, or how much a country’s government prioritizes internet accessibility.
- Other factors may influence a country’s internet speed too, such as government regulation and intentional bandwidth throttling.
Here are top 10 countries with the slowest internet speeds in Africa.
Rank | Country | Average mbps |
1. | Ethiopia | 1.2 |
2. | Guinea-Bissau | 1.24 |
3. | Equatorial Guinea | 1.30 |
4. | South Sudan | 1.40 |
5. | Djibouti | 1.46 |
6. | Somalia | 1.59 |
7. | Sudan | 1.80 |
8. | Gambia | 2.04 |
9. | Sierra Leone | 2.19 |
10. | Guinea | 2.39 |
Chad | 2.39 |