[Volume

[LETTER FROM THE EDITOR]
“Great data, but how should I use it?”
Ever since launching the State of the Internet Report in 2008, we’ve been publishing
connectivity-related data derived from the Akamai Intelligent Platform as well as related
data sets from Akamai or other third-party sources. However, we’ve never given any explicit
guidance on how the data should be used. There’s no single right answer there, obviously,
as it depends on the requirements and goals of each specific reader.
Over time, connection speed data from the report has been used as a de facto benchmark
in press outlets around the world, most often in the context of local broadband or mobile
initiatives. It is employed as a means of comparing local speeds to other geographic
neighbors (states or countries) or supporting calls for additional investment or competition
in the local markets.
Some of Akamai’s media customers have also found data from the report useful for
informing decisions on new markets for expansion as well as determining appropriate
content encoding bitrates for these new markets. By identifying geographies with strong
broadband capabilities, they can not only avoid entering markets where their streaming
services would fare poorly, but also encode their content at optimal bitrates to ensure high
quality user experiences.
In addition, the academic research community and industry analyst firms have found
the State of the Internet Report to be a rich source of data that can serve as critical input
for the development of ‘digital readiness’ indices, Internet maturity rankings, and other
unique perspectives.
Maybe these examples have prompted you to think more about how you can leverage State
of the Internet data for your own use case. Remember that the report goes beyond detailing
connections speeds as well, presenting data about IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 adoption,
mobile browser usage, and Internet outages, all of which can be used for planning and
development purposes. The State of the Internet team also considers how we can evolve
beyond simply reporting on connection speed data to providing insightful perspectives
on it, i.e., the “why’s and how’s” of short-term changes and long-term trends as well as the
broader impact of those changes and trends. We look forward to sharing those perspectives
with you in the future.
As we noted in previous quarters, for readers who want to consume the State of the Internet
Report on a tablet or e-reader device, we are now making the report available for download
in ePub format from online bookstores including amazon.com, Google Play, Apple iBooks,
Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Specific download links are available after registration at https://
www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet/, and we encourage you to leave positive reviews of
the report at your online bookstore of choice.
As always, if you have comments, questions, or suggestions regarding the State of the
Internet Report, the website, or the mobile applications, please reach out to us via email at
stateoftheinternet@akamai.com or on Twitter at @akamai_soti. You can also interact with us in
the State of the Internet subspace on the Akamai Community at https://community.akamai.com/.
—David Belson