Rwanda has registered the highest broadband Internet speed in Africa, according to latest statistics from Ookla’s NetIndex
Ookla, which provides broadband testing and network diagnostic applications, said the country has topped the broadband speed list in Africa after overtaking Ghana.
The latest broadband speed results showed that Rwanda had download speeds of up to 7.28Mbps, up from 3.28Mbps six months ago, emerging 65th in the world. The country has been followed by Libya with 5.12Mbps and Ethiopia with 4.82Mbps.
Ghana, which had ranked number one with the fastest broadband speed in Africa in March 2012, has dropped to the fourth position in the ranking with broadband download speeds of up to 4.42Mbps, down from 5.14Mbps about six months ago.
Speaking to The New Times, the Rwandan minister of youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, welcomed the development, although he said there was a lot more that Rwanda needed to do.
He said, “This shows that our efforts are paying off although we still need to do more in the area of affordability of broadband.
“Rwanda’s performance in broadband speed is a result of deliberate efforts of the government that invested in fibre optic rollout and purchase of capacity.”
He added that part of the plan to make broadband affordable was reducing the cost of broadband during peak hours.
Other African countries with the high broadband speeds included Kenya with 4.34Mbps, currently ranked fifth in Africa, dropping from second position six months ago; Morocco with 3.51Mbps, ranked eighth in Africa; and South Africa with 3.31Mbps, ranked tenth in Africa and 118th in the world.
According to the report, Hong Kong ranks number one in the world with 42.08Mbps, followed by Japan with 37.13Mbps and Lithuania in third position with 36.81Mbps.
