"Ppalli-ppalli Korea, No Wonder It Stings": Plunges from No. 1 to 22nd, Falls Behind Vietnam and Thailand

South Korea Ranks 22nd for Fixed Broadband Speed... Singapore Takes First Place
Seoul Ranks 34th... South Korea Ranks Sixth Globally for Mobile Internet

South Korea, once a world leader in internet speeds, has fallen behind Vietnam and Thailand. It ranked sixth globally for mobile internet but only 22nd for fixed broadband.

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South Korea Falls Behind Vietnam and Thailand... 22nd in Fixed Broadband Speeds, Seoul 34th

According to Ookla's Speedtest Global Index, a global internet speed measurement service, South Korea's median fixed broadband download speed was 251.33 Mbps in August, ranking 22nd worldwide. South Korea, which ranked first globally in average connection speed in Akamai's State of the Internet Report in 2017, has fallen to 22nd in less than a decade.

Vietnam and Thailand have made particularly notable gains. As recently as 2015, Vietnam's fixed broadband speed was just one-sixth of South Korea's. But as of August, Vietnam's fixed broadband download speed stood at 301.48 Mbps, about 20% faster than South Korea's, and it ranked 14 places higher. Thailand also ranked ninth globally, with a speed of 298.92 Mbps.

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In recent years, both countries have invested heavily in replacing fiber-optic cables and expanding 5G infrastructure. Vietnam's fixed broadband download speeds have also been rising sharply in 2026. By contrast, South Korea has been criticized for investing relatively slowly in infrastructure upgrades since it built a world-class high-speed internet network in the early 2000s.

South Korea also lagged in rankings by city. Seoul's fixed broadband download speed was 238.69 Mbps, placing it 34th globally. It trailed not only Bangkok (321.90 Mbps, sixth) but also Ho Chi Minh City (298.38 Mbps, 14th) and Hanoi (251.94 Mbps, 30th).

Singapore ranked first in fixed broadband, with a speed of 462.50 Mbps, about 1.8 times South Korea's. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Chile followed, while the United States ranked seventh. China (24th) and Japan (26th) ranked below South Korea.

South Korea Ranks Sixth Globally in Mobile Speeds... Different Measurement Methods Make It Difficult to Draw Conclusions About Technical Capabilities

South Korea remained among the top countries for mobile internet. Its mobile internet speed was 250.56 Mbps, ranking sixth globally. Although its fixed and mobile speeds were similar, its rankings differed by 16 places. Only five countries, including the UAE and Qatar, ranked ahead of South Korea for mobile speeds, while 21 countries had faster fixed broadband. The figures highlight that South Korea has led in 5G investment but has lagged relatively in modernizing its fixed broadband infrastructure.

The rankings reflect speed tests conducted directly by users worldwide from June through August. However, under Ookla's methodology, fixed broadband measurements include portable Wi-Fi, making it difficult to draw definitive conclusions about differences in countries' telecommunications capabilities based on the rankings alone.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.