UAE dethroned South Korea to take the top spot in the global mobile broadband speed test in March.
South Korea overtook the Emirate in February as per Ookla’s Global Speed Test stats.
In the UAE, the average download speed was 83.52Mbps in March compared to 86.35Mbps in February.
The average upload speed in the UAE stood at 21.79Mbps in March compared to 23.71Mbps in February.
The global speed test compares internet speed data from around the world every month. Data for the index comes from the hundreds of millions of tests taken by real people using speed test every month.
In South Korea, the average download speed was 81.39Mbps while Qatar, which remained unchanged at the third spot, had a download speed of 78.38Mbps in March.
The global average download speed stood at 30.47Mbps while the upload speed stood at 10.73Mbps in March.
When compared to other Gulf Cooperation Countries, Saudi Arabia fell two places to 12th with a download speed of 54.13Mbps compared to 59.24Mbps in February while Oman fell two places to 38th with a download speed of 36.51Mpbs compared to 40.27Mbps, Bahrain rose four places to 39th with a download speed of 36.49Mbps compared to 36.75Mbps in February, and Kuwait fell 24 places to rank 45th with a download speed of 35.34Mbps compared to 47.76Mbps in February.
In February, Kuwait was ranked 21st.
Network strain
In the fixed broadband space, UAE rose three places to 26th with an average download speed of 100.95Mbps compared to 95.80Mbps in February while the average upload speed was 51.17Mbps compared to 46.66Mbps in February.
An industry expert said that both the telecom operators in the UAE – Etisalat and du – had increased their bandwidth and improved their network to absorb the strain on the fibre optic network due to work-from-home strategy.
The global average download speed slowed down from 75.41Mbs in February to 74.64Mbps while the upload speed also slowed down from 41.42Mbps to 40.07Mbps in February.
The top three countries for fixed broadband speed are Singapore, Hong Kong and Romania.
Romania jumped one place higher while Monaco, which was third-ranked in February, moved down three places to rank sixth.
In Singapore, the average download speed was 197.26Mbps compared to 203.68Mbps in February while in Hong Kong, it was 168.99Mbps compared to 169.60Mbps in February, in Romania, it was 155.55Mbps.
When compared to other Gulf Cooperation Countries, Qatar jumped 11 places higher to 30th with a download speed of 94.94Mpbs compared to 75.81Mbps in February, Kuwait fell three places lower to 48th with a download speed of 62.51Mbps compared to 66.34Mbps in February, Saudi Arabia rose one place higher to 49th with a download speed of 61.03Mbps compared to 60.56Mbps in February, Oman fell 13 places lower to 90th with a download speed of 28.41Mbps compared to 34.68Mbps in February, Bahrain remained unchanged at 94th with a download speed of 27Mbps compared to 28.11Mbps in February.
