The large, dark circles show regions where download speeds are highest. Screengrab from netindex.com
According to a recent report by Net Index, Goth Fazal, a little outside of the Sindh city of Nawabshah and near the Pakistan-India border, boasts the fastest download speeds in Pakistan, edging out major cities such as Lahore and Karachi on the list.
Net Index is owned by Ookla, a broadband testing and web-based network diagnostic applications company.
According to the data, which was compiled from 1,535 unique IPs in the region, Goth Fazal offers download speed of 2.96 Megabits per second (Mbps), while the national average is 2.31 Mbps, which puts Pakistan at a ranking of 172 out of 186 internationally.
It must be noted though that IPs do not always correspond with their exact location in Pakistan.
Pakistan though fares better than some countries in terms of average internet speeds including Egypt, Cuba, Afghanistan and Equatorial Guinea. However, it pales in comparison to regional countries like India, ranked 130, and Bangladesh, ranked 166.
The top three countries are Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore, who boast download speeds of 58.57 Mbps, 40.43 Mbps and 37.52 Mbps respectively.
In the uploading speed index there was better news as Pakistan fares slightly better with a rank of 162 and an average upload speed of 1.10 Mbps.
For the quality index, there was insufficient data and Pakistan, among many other countries, was not included in the list.
Methodology
The report is compiled from millions of internet speed tests and for Pakistan alone, tests from 1,812,486 unique IPs were taken.
Internet users
During his keynote address at Connect Asia Pacific Summit 2013 in Bangkok earlier this month, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stated that Pakistan’s telecom infrastructure comprises 9.8 million internet users, 15.7 million mobile internet users and 2.8 million broadband subscribers.
He also spoke of the government's commitment to accelerate digitisation of the country. This in turn would enable socio-economic development, create a knowledge-based economy and promote economic growth, he said.
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Again we defeated pakistan in internet download speed.Tell me which parameter did pakistan ahead of us other than gdp, which we will overtake them soon than later.
@Stellar: So you are not even ashamed of your ranking of 172 out of 186 countries?
However, it pales in comparison to regional countries like India, ranked 130, and Bangladesh, ranked 166. How exactly does it pales in comparison with that of Bangladesh at 166 and India at 130...
@lol: In Failed state list they are always in top ten correct yourself
The people making decissions that would improve things in this country are really only interested with the speed at which they can fill their pockets......everything else is of little importance.
@Neo: In the neanwhile for Hinduism, Raam and Seeta came to know each other while chatting on MIRC right and thats where they exchanged their MSN ids, so Hinduism is basically the inventor of internet. Good going bachay!
@Nikki: Indians complain about download because they compare it to upload speed which is much higher. It could also be Indian software engineers who have worked in Europe, Singapore US and use that as a reference point and hence complain. How did ou conclude based on those complaints that the upload/download speed in India is worse than Pakistan?
brb moving to romania
@IceSoul: Yes that is correct. The last major speed bump was back in 2010. We've had no progress since then. PTCL has little incentive to increase speeds because it has captured the market and is minting money. Even if it did want to increase speeds it couldn't do it without heavy investment because its backward copper infrastructure does not support higher speeds. The only hope is that 3G, when it finally launches, will give existing ISPs like PTCL a kick in the pants to get moving again.
India's broadband speed is not any better than Pakistan's - it is likely that it may be worse. Most of them - like Airtel - boast of 4MBPS but have a draconian FUP of 30GB in a plan that costs INR 1450/pm. The worst part is, this 30GB include uploads as well. Pathetic !!
Smaller country, better results on graph. Hong kong and singapore may be smaller than some international cities.
Internet is not an Arab invention. So Pakistanis should boycott it.
ET should you not credit the original publisher of this report: http://propakistani.pk/2013/11/28/pakistan-ranked-at-miserable-172nd-spot-in-terms-of-worldwide-internet-speeds/
Internet speed was going up in Pak until a few years, but has stalled because there's no real competition to PTCL. That's why there has been no increase in speeds in the last 2-3 years.
Is faster than receiving a Fax?
Internet is against the teaching on Islam... its invention of West We Pakis don't need it.
.you rank first in IT..international terrorism...!!!
at least they can download less porn.
@Nikki: yes yes u r the most developed nation in the world...... these things are just another way to degrade pakistan's image...... u rock man!! ..... how do u download something when there is no electricity for 20 hours a day.... ?/ :)
In the quality index Pakistan, India and Indonesia ranks higher than many countries on account of the broadband being much cheaper here.
Plz dont compare with India, they are worst in down load,we are fast. My Indian fellow always complains about internet speed, we are the most frequent user, so I can assure you that Pakistan is much better in inernet use and speed.
india is 130 in download speed.... plz correct.... and 93 rd in upload speed....
india ranks 90 in upload speed.... however download speed is worse than nepal....