The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic goes far beyond the public health of the world population. At the end of March, Speedtest was able to cope with a slower Internet at a global level and this month it updated data again, with a constant "degradation of the speed levels of fixed networks. At the level of mobile Internet, the first month of falling speeds in March this year.
The data now published refer to the week of March 30. At European level, the average download speed on fixed networks increased in Switzerland, while Spain and Italy registered very little growth when compared to the previous weeks. France has seen a decline in download speed over fixed broadband. Notable for the stability in speed levels are Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Regarding download speed over mobile network, the Netherlands is the most positive case, with Austria, France, Italy, including Lombardy], Switzerland and the United Kingdom recovering slightly. The average download speed on the mobile network was relatively stable in Germany and Spain during the last analyzed period.
The new information still shows an improvement in Europe. In the week of March 16, the average speed on fixed networks decreased in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. In Germany alone, the average speed dropped by 10 Mbps, from 103 to 93 Mbps, but in Austria and the United Kingdom there were no changes. Also in the mobile networks, some countries had been more affected, such as Austria, France, Spain and Sweden, although in the Netherlands the average speed has increased.
Although Portugal is not in this list, the March data from the Speedtest Global Index shows that the country is in the 24th position in terms of average download speed on the fixed network, with a record of 109.99 Mbps, in a ranking of 176 countries . The value is much higher than the average of the other countries, which is fixed at 74.64 Mbps.
In mobile networks, Portugal also has a better average download speed than the 141 countries on the list, at 35.68 Mbps, when the reality at the global level is 30.47 Mbps. The country is thus in the 43rd position. Even so, in both cases, Portugal fell several positions in relation to February data.