African countries do not do well when it comes to broadband speed.
Just one of the African countries listed below — and it’s not South Africa — achieved average speeds greater than 10Mbps. That’s considered to be the minimum speed consumers need “to fully participate in a digital society,” according to the U.K. telecoms watchdog Ofcom.
Of the 189 countries ranked by British company Cable.co.UK, 139 failed to achieve that target. Six of the 10 lowest-ranked countries are in Africa, Quartz reported.
Countries with the fastest broadband speeds have an advantage, and this is especially true for Africa.
New research from Cable, a broadband, TV and phone comparison firm, looked at 63 million-plus broadband speed tests across the globe to determine the fastest average speeds.
Singapore ranks as the world’s fastest country with speeds of 55.13Mbps (megabyte per second), while Yemen is in last place in the ranking at an average speed of only 0.34Mbps. By comparison, the U.S. placed 21st in the world at 20Mbps in the rankings.
Here are the 12 African countries with the fastest broadband speeds.
Sources: Cable, TechCentral, Businesstech, AllAfrica.
With an average speed of 2.12Mbps, Uganda is the nation with the 12th fastest broadband speed in Africa, while placing 116th in the world, slightly faster than Myanmar and fellow East African country Rwanda.
With the same average speed as Uganda at 2.12Mbps, West African country Liberia has managed to increase general speeds in recent years, and now ranks 115th in the world with the same speed as Colombia.
Ghana, a country in West Africa, is increasingly embracing the internet. Ranked No. 10 in Africa, Ghana places 110th in the world with an average broadband speed of 2.3Mbps.
In 106th place globally on the Cable broadband speeds ranking, Zambia clocks in with a speed of 2.45Mbps, which means that it would take Zambians an average of just under seven hours to download a high definition movie that is 7.5GB in size.
Zimbabwe is the African country with the eighth fastest broadband speed on the continent, boasting average speeds of 2.49Mbps, according to Cable research. At 105th overall, Zimbabwean broadband speeds are slightly faster than those found in El Salvador and Martinique.
Considering the fact that Nigeria is one of the biggest economies on the African continent, it may come as a surprise that it ranks seventh for broadband speeds, and 95th in the world with a speed of 3.15Mbps.
The island of Madagascar provides average broadband speeds of 3.49Mbps for its people, allowing it to rank 89th globally and sixth in Africa in terms of broadband internet download speeds.
The first North African country on this list, Tunisia is home to an average broadband speed of 3.5Mbps. This means that Tunisians can count on being fifth among African nations with the fastest broadband speeds, and 88th internationally.
South Africa is placed just ahead of the United Arab Emirates with an average download speed of 4.36Mbps, making it the fourth fastest for broadband speeds in Africa, and 80th in the world.
Morocco is third out of Africa’s fastest broadband speeds with an average speed of 4.38Mbps, which means that Moroccans can download a 7.5GB high definition movie in an average time of three hours and 53 minutes.
At No. 72 in the world, the Seychelles enjoys Africa’s second fastest average broadband speeds at 5.84Mbps, allowing those on the islands to benefit from some of the fastest speeds around the continent.
The highest ranked African nation in terms of broadband internet speeds is Kenya, with an average speed of 10.71Mbps, enough to see the East African country place 51st in the world with almost twice the speeds of second-placed Seychelles.
