Australia Leading the Americas and the Pacific with Mobile Broadband Speed

Akamai’s State of the Internet Report for the Third Quarter of 2016 indicates Australia is ahead of the Americas and the Pacific with mobile broadband speed (p. 48):

• "Americas: Canada, 8.9 Mbps
• Asia Pacific: Australia, 12.8 Mbps
  
• Europe: United Kingdom, 23.7 Mbps
  
• Middle East/Africa: United Arab Emirates, 13.3 Mbps"

The media coverage of the report in Australia focused on Australia's low global rank for Internet speed of 50th at 9.6 Mpbs. However, the report also points out that Australia has high Long-Term Evolution (LTE) coverage at 98% of the population, compared to 90% for the world (p. 48). The report also points out that only half the Australian population are using this service. However, it may be that Australian telcos and customers are skipping LTE and moving to true 4G. In any case I suggest there is scope for faster broadband access, simply by making mobile broadband more affordable on the devices customers already have and use. While fiber should be laid in the street and into new homes, it may not be worth the cost of retrofitting to existing homes.