The Netherlands, one of the most progressive countries when it comes to broadband, has now become the nation with the highest broadband connectivity, according to Akamai’s “State of the Internet” report for the second quarter of 2011. Akamai (s AKAM) data shows that the unrelenting march of broadband continues unabated all across our planet. Not only are the number of broadband subscribers on the up but so are the average speeds.

Akamai reports are based on connections to Akamai’s global network from both wired and wireless networks. The data collected by Akamai shows that nearly 27 percent of all connections to Akamai’s network are at speeds in excess of 5 megabits per second. Nearly 68 percent of broadband connections in the Netherlands exceed 5 Mbps. Hong Kong and South Korea are next, with 59 percent and 58 percent, respectively.

• Europe dominates the list of top ten countries with the highest broadband connectivity.
• However, Asian cities dominate the list of the 100 fastest cities in the world, with 10 South Korean cities and Japan alone having 59 cities.
• Brno, in the Czech Republic, is the fastest-ranked city in Europe and is only ranked No. 55.
• Eighteen U.S. cities are on the top 100 list, with San Jose being the fastest —ranked 9 out of 100. The average speed in San Jose was 13.7 Mbps. San Jose also had the highest peak speed in the U.S., 38.7 Mbps.
• The South Korean city of Taegu is the fastest city in the world, with an average Mbps of 15.8 Mbps. South Korea’s Taejon had the highest peak speed, 55.3 Mbps.

Global broadband speeds are getting faster and faster, the data reveals.

• After growing nearly 10 percent in the first quarter of 2011, the global average connection speed once again saw another significant quarterly increase, growing 21 percent, to 2.6 Mbps.
• The global average connection speed grew significantly year over year as well, increasing 43 percent.
• Globally, year-over-year increases in average connection speed were seen in 128 countries/regions, with yearly growth of over 100 percent seen in 17 countries, while an additional 102 grew 10 percent or more over the prior year.
• The global peak speed was 11.4 Mbps, up 7.4 percent from the first quarter of 2011 and 67 percent from Q2 2010.
• The U.S., which is ranked 12th by average measured connection speed, had an average speed of 5.8 Mbps, up 9 percent from the first quarter of 2011 and a whopping 26 percent from Q2 2010. The availability of higher speed tiers (30 Mbps or higher) from cable companies is behind this boost.

The biggest growth has been on the mobile networks, according to Akamai’s data.

• The average measured connection speed for known mobile providers worldwide ranged from a high of slightly more than 5 Mbps to a low of 209 Kbps.
• Approximately three-quarters of the surveyed providers had average connection speeds above 1 Mbps.
• For the 108 mobile providers worldwide for which Akamai analyzed data, 3 boasted average peak connection speeds above 20 Mbps, 27 achieved average peak connection speeds above 10 Mbps and 47 recorded average peak connection speeds greater than 5 Mbps. Only 1 mobile provider (located in South Africa) did not record an average peak connection speed above 2 Mbps.
• Users at 74 of the surveyed providers consumed greater than 100 MB per month of content from Akamai. According to Ericsson, the volume of mobile data traffic in the second quarter of 2011 doubled year over year and grew 8 percent quarter over quarter.