Global Internet connection speeds slowed down in late 2012: Study

Global Internet connection speeds around the world slowed in late 2012, according to a survey released Wednesday that suggested a temporary stall in broadband gains.

Akamai Technologies' third quarter "State of the Internet" report also showed China remained the biggest source of computer attacks, and that Brazil and China appear to have the biggest surge in Web use.

The global average connection speed decreased by some seven percent between the second and third quarters of 2012 to 2.8 megabytes per second (Mbps).

But that appeared to be a temporary decline, since average connection speeds were up 11 percent year over year.

South Korea continued to have the highest average connection speed at 14.7 Mbps, followed by Japan (10.7 Mbps) and Hong Kong (8.9 Mbps).

Globally, adoption of "high" broadband (speeds above 10 Mbps) grew 8.8 percent in the third quarter and overall global broadband adoption grew 4.8 percent, the report said.

For the second quarter in a row, Brazil experienced the greatest year-over-year growth of 39 percent within the group of top 10 countries. China showed the largest quarter-over-quarter increase of 5.7 percent.

In analyzing Web attacks from 180 countries or regions, Akamai said China remained the single largest source, with 33 percent of all attacks originating within its borders. The United States accounted for 13 percent, followed by Russia at 4.7 percent.

For the mobile Internet, Akamai said Apple's Mobile Safari accounted for 60.1 percent of data requests on all networks, with Google's Android browsers responsible for 23.1 percent.