WEB PAGES load onto desktop computer screens in Slovakia faster than anywhere else in the world: in just 3.3 seconds, on average. This was the somewhat surprising finding from tests conducted by Google in April 2012. One possible explanation for the fast speed is the fact that Slovaks tend to browse mainly Slovak-language sites, which are hosted locally. Google measured the speed at which web pages loaded onto desktop computers and mobile devices in 50 countries with the fastest internet connections, the Bloomberg newswire reported.
According to Google, the data were extracted using its Google Analytics Site Speed feature. The aggregated data show the average speed of websites as experienced by users.
The Site Speed feature worked under two conditions: web publishers allowed Google Analytics to share data anonymously; and the information about what country a web publisher was located in was not tracked.
Peter Tomaščík from the webhosting company SlovakNet suggested that the reason for Slovakia’s high desktop speed is the conservative nature of users twinned with a local language barrier. According to Tomaščík, Slovak users mainly visit Slovak websites that are primarily interconnected through the peering centre SIX (The Slovak Internet Exchange). He further explained that this local interconnection of Slovak providers significantly accelerates the loading of web pages.
“[The average] Slovak is conservative and plays in his own sandpit,” Tomaščík told The Slovak Spectator.
According to Google’s findings, South Korea generally has the fastest loading speeds. Loading a web page to a mobile device there takes just 4.8 seconds on average, the shortest time worldwide, while South Korea holds second place for desktop speeds: 3.5 seconds. The survey showed that in mobile devices Slovakia took 10th position, with an average of 7.6 seconds.
Eight of the top 10 countries for desktops are from Europe. Slovakia and South Korea were followed by the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Japan. The slowest desktops were in Indonesia, which had an average loading speed of 23.3 seconds.
Following South Korea on the list of the fastest mobile loading speeds were Denmark, Hong Kong, Norway and Sweden. On the other hand, in the United Arab Emirates it takes more than 26 seconds, on average, for web pages to load on mobile phone screens. Also near the bottom on this measure are Saudi Arabia, Thailand and India.
