Korea’s fixed broadband speed ranking falls to 22nd globally

South Korea’s internet speed ranking has slipped, with the country placing sixth for mobile downloads but only 22nd for fixed broadband, trailing several Southeast Asian countries.

According to Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, Korea’s median fixed broadband download speed was 251.33 megabits per second (Mbps) in August, ranking 22nd worldwide. The country ranked first in Akamai’s 2017 State of the Internet report.

Singapore topped the latest ranking at 462.50 Mbps, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Chile. The United States ranked seventh, while Vietnam and Thailand placed eighth and ninth, respectively. China ranked 24th and Japan 26th.

At the reported median speeds, downloading a gigabyte file would take about 32 seconds in Korea, 27 seconds in Vietnam, and 17 seconds in Singapore.

Korea’s mobile download speed stood at 250.56 Mbps, ranking sixth, while the UAE led at 675.51 Mbps.

Some observers attribute the gap to Korea’s focus on mobile network infrastructure at the expense of fixed broadband upgrades. However, differences in measurement methods, devices, subscription plans, and testing environments make direct comparisons difficult.

The Ministry of Science and ICT questioned the objectivity of Ookla’s rankings, saying the survey relies on voluntary user tests without controlling for variables or disclosing detailed testing conditions and sample sizes.

The ministry said its own 2025 telecommunications quality assessment recorded average speeds of 91.91 Mbps for 100 Mbps plans, 496.05 Mbps for 500 Mbps plans, and 987.7 Mbps for 1-gigabit plans, significantly different from Ookla’s results.

Citing OECD data, the ministry also said Korea remains among the global leaders in fixed broadband infrastructure, with 46.23 subscribers per 100 residents on plans offering at least 100 Mbps and fiber-optic connections accounting for 91.55 percent of fixed broadband lines.