Akamai: US ranks 28th in the world in mobile internet speeds with an average of 10.7 Mbps; UK takes top spot with average of 26 Mbps
We have slower mobile internet than Greece. Greece! — The U.S. lags behind much of the rest of the developed world in mobile internet speeds, ranking 28th.
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the latest entry in a consistent measurement record: Akamai had already placed the US 20th globally on connection speeds in its Q2 2015 study, and OpenSignal ranked the US just 55th in LTE download speeds in early 2016. The 28th-place mobile ranking with 10.7 Mbps — less than half the UK's 26 Mbps average — extends that pattern to cellular networks specifically.
What makes the number sting for US carriers is who sits above it: the description's own framing notes the US trails Greece, and the same measurement series later shows the gap persisting rather than closing.
First-order effects
- US mobile carriers take a fresh reputational hit in a widely cited Akamai benchmark, handing rivals abroad — UK operators now averaging 26 Mbps — a marketing talking point in every market comparison.
- Akamai cements its role as the reference source for international speed rankings, following its earlier global connection-speed study that put the US in 20th place two years prior.
Second-order effects
- Independent measurers like OpenSignal double down on the beat: their subsequent studies rank the US 47th among 77 countries on 4G (Opensignal's 94M-device study) and 55th on LTE, turning carrier 'fastest network' claims into a contested, data-driven fight.
- Carriers are pushed to compete on measured throughput rather than coverage maps, which is exactly the terrain where Ookla later finds AT&T holding the fastest US network even as upload speeds stay weak.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds into the next network generation, the structural question shifts from deployment pace to returns: the 2020 Opensignal finding that US 5G delivered only 1.8x its 4G speeds suggests densification and spectrum strategy, not just new radios, determine whether the US escapes the bottom half of these rankings.
- A decade of sub-top-20 placements across Akamai, OpenSignal, and Ookla measurements points toward regulatory attention on spectrum allocation and infrastructure permitting as the standing explanation for why leaders like South Korea keep outpacing the US.
The trend: Across five years of Akamai, OpenSignal, and Ookla measurements, the US remains stuck in the bottom half of global mobile speed rankings while South Korea and other dense-market leaders pull further ahead.