Doha: Mobile Internet speed in Qatar was the fastest in the world in December 2020, according to the Speedtest Global Index results released yesterday.
In the Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, Qatar was ranked first in the world in terms of mobile internet speed in December. The average download speed in Qatar was 178.01 Mbps last month while the average upload speed was 29.74 Mbps.
Qatar, which has one of the highest internet penetrations in the world, has improved its performance by two places in the index compared to last month.
“On mobile, Qatar climbed two spots to land in first place for mobile. While the country has ranked among the top five for the past year, this is the first time the country has reached the top spot,” noted Ookla in its report.
The average download speed in Qatar was 77.07 Mbps in November while the upload speed was 21.49 Mbps.
The global average download speed in December was 47.20Mbps while the upload speed was 12.67Mbps. In the global ranking, the United Arab Emirates stood second with an average download speed of 177.52 Mbps while South Korea was placed third with average download speed of 169.03 Mbps in December. China came fourth in the index, followed by Australia with an average download speed of 155.89 Mbps and 112.68, respectively.
The record of Qatar in internet speed has remained impressive throughout the year. The country has been ranked among the top five countries in the global ranking in 2020. Qatar has won several laurels in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in 2020. One of the main highlights was the recognition by the World Economic Forum. In December last year, the country was ranked second in the Arab world and ninth globally in ICT adoption as per the Global Competitiveness Report Special Edition 2020 report by the World Economic Forum.
The Ookla Speed Test Index compares Internet speed data from around the world on a monthly basis. Data for the Index comes from the hundreds of millions of tests taken by real people using Speedtest every month.
Qatar has invested substantially in 5G technology which allows peak Internet connection speed to reach 1 Gbps.
The roll-out of 5G has also accelerated the development of wider communications infrastructure in Qatar.
Adoption of new technology in Qatar is also high as the use of Internet and new devices has increased significantly over the last 10 years.
