French city ranked best in world for internet connection
France has prioritised investment in high-speed fixed broadband in recent years
The French city of Lyon has a particularly extensive fibre network
asharkyu/Shutterstock
The French city of Lyon has been ranked as currently having the best fixed line broadband connection in the world.
The international internet speed testing platform, Speedtest, updates its Global Index of almost 200 of "the world’s largest cities” on a monthly basis, ranked according to median download speed over the previous three months. Prior to 2022, it only featured countries.
Lyon currently sits at the top of the list, displaying a median download speed of 347.52Mbps, due to the city’s particularly extensive fibre network.
A total of 97% of addresses in Lyon are currently eligible for fibre-optic network connection, according to Ma Connexion Internet, an interactive online tool developed by French communications regulation authority Arcep. See our article here on how to use the tool.
Paris is the second French city on the ranking, coming in 23rd place with a median download speed of 238.51Mbps.
“Our list includes the two largest cities from each country. The cities must also have over 500,000 inhabitants and sufficient samples to be included,” reads a blog post shared by Speedtest’s owner, Ookla.
Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates ranks second (344.34Mbps) and Valparaíso in Chile ranks third (330.57Mbps).
France sits in third place in the country list with a median download speed of 319.43Mbps, behind Singapore (393.15Mbps)* and Hong Kong (323.87Mbps).
France’s high-ranking position is largely down to the Plan France Très Haut Débit, an initiative that aimed to cover 100% of premises (households and workplaces etc.) with internet speeds over 30Mbps by the end of 2022, and offer speeds over 100Mbps by the end of 2025.
Mobile internet connection also ranked
Paris and Lyon perform less effectively when it comes to mobile internet speed, ranking 35th (181.06Mbps) and 40th (170.16Mbps) respectively.
Arcep has another tool called Mon Reseau Mobile, that shows the mobile data coverage and network speed across France.
*Note that Singapore does not appear on the city Speedtest Global Index (despite scoring higher than Lyon for internet speed) as the country itself is a city-state.
