- Internet speeds in Australia are worse than some developing nations
- Australia’s speed is slower than Kenya and former Soviet nations like Latvia
- This is despite the NBN broadband network costing ratepayers $38 billion
Australian broadband speeds are slower than Africa and former Soviet nations, research has found.
The country’s internet speed is behind Kenya, and former Soviet nations including Latvia and Lithuania.
The news comes after it was revealed the NBN network costed taxpayers a whopping $49 billion since it was rolled out eight years ago, Bloomberg reports.
Internet speed in Australia sits at 10.01mbps which is far slower than Kenya and Latvia (stock image)
Australia’s average speed was recorded at 10.01 mbps, seven megabits behind the USA which was ranked at 13th with 17.2mbps, the Akamai State of the Internet report found.
According to Bloomberg, thousands of customers who switched to the network have complained about the slow download speeds.
Telecommunication ombudsman received a total of 7,512 of complaints from June to December last year, which was double than the same corresponding period in 2015.
However, the network has defended the increase in complaints adding that it was because the number of people using the service had risen.
Retailers have also joined the bandwagon and complained that they were slapped with higher fees when subscribing to the network.
A Sydney-based telecommunication expert Paul Budde told Bloomberg: ‘We are really an example of how not to do it.’
‘We have ended up with the worst possible solution.’
A NBN spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘The citing of Kenya underlines how misleading the Akamai rankings can be, Kenya has fixed broadband penetration to only around 10 percent of its population – principally served with FTTP (fiber to the premises).
‘We are providing broadband to 100 percent of the Australian population.
‘This means that a small number of people get very high speeds whilst others get nothing at all and yet their overall ranking is higher as only the small number of high speed lines get measured,’ the spokesperson said.
Australia has spent a total of $49 billion since the inception of the NBN in 2009 (stock image)
Australia Internet is lagging behind countries such as Kenya and other Soviet nations (stock image)