Australians enjoy significantly faster average download speeds than consumers in the US, according to a new study.
The OpenSignal figures reveal Australians are enjoying an average download speed of 17.3 Mbps (megabits per second).
The figure comes out well ahead of mobile networks in South Korea (16.4 Mbps), Germany (14 Mbps), the USA (9.6 Mbps) and Japan (7.1 Mbps).
Overall, Australian 4G/LTE speeds are on average the fifth highest in the world, trailing Sweden (22.1 Mbps), Hong Kong (19.6 Mbps), Denmark (19.1 Mbps) and Canada (18.1 Mbps).
The survey measured average speed, rather than peak speed, with network congestion a key factor in why access is slower in some countries than others.
The high Australian speeds come despite Australia having a faster smartphone adoption rate than the US, UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany, meaning Australian 4G networks deliver faster speeds despite supporting larger user bases than similar networks overseas.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
