Luxembourg residents have the 15th fastest broadband internet connections in the world and the fastest in the Greater Region, an American software firm has said.

The average high speed connection speed in Grand Duchy households was 35.1 megabits per second (Mbps), according to Ookla’s March 2014 “Net Index”, which covered 189 countries.

That compared to national average rates in Belgium of 31.2 Mbps (the 19th fastest globally), in France of 26.8 Mbps (22nd fastest), and in Germany of 25.6 Mbps (24th fastest), said Seattle-based Ookla, which makes software to test and analyse the performance of broadband networks.

Luxembourg’s high speed internet network was also faster than the averages recorded in the UK (24.6 Mbps, the 29th fastest in the world), across the EU (22.9 Mbps), the US (33rd fastest globally at 21.9 Mbps), among the OECD group of 34 wealthier countries (21.0 Mbps), and the global broadband average (17 Mbps).

Hong Kong, Singapore top worldwide

The global top ten, which favoured territories with higher population density, were:

1. Hong Kong (73.4 Mbps)

2. Singapore (58)

3. Romania (57)

4. South Korea (52.1)

5. Japan (42.1)

6. Sweden (41.8)

7. Switzerland (41.7)

8. Andorra (40.9)

9. Macau (40.5)

10. Lithuania (40.3)

According to Apple’s website, it takes roughly 22 minutes to download a standard two hour movie at 5 Mbps, compared to nearly two hours at 1 Mbps.

Capital region fastest in Luxembourg

The top three cities within the Grand Duchy were Leudelange (38.9), Luxembourg City (35.1) and Walferdange (33.7), Ookla reported.

All three of those municipalities had zippier connections than the fastest town in Belgium, which was Gent (31.2). However, Luxembourg localities trailed the averages in Paris (64.3) and Bochum (41.6), respectively the fastest cities in France and Germany.

ISP results

There was notable variation among internet service providers, according to the “Net Index” on Friday:

Visual Online (48.1 Mbps)

P&T Luxembourg (38.6)

Codigitel (30.8)

EDPnet (30.7)

Luxemburg Online (29.1)

Tango (22.6)

Lux Communications (7.4)

In recent years, Luxembourg’s government has made developing and ICT infrastructure an economic growth priority.

Earlier this year, another American technology firm, Akamai, said the Grand Duchy had the 21st quickest internet traffic out of 25 European countries, and the slowest in the Greater Region. However, that study covered all internet connections, not only the broadband links studied by Ookla.

On its website, Ookla said its clients include telecommunications and media firms AT&T, BBC, Cable & Wireless, Cisco, CNN, Disney, Nokia, Reuters, Telmex and Vodafone, as well as large organisations like Toyota and the US Treasury Department. The company said it performs more than 100 million tests each month.