Connection speeds are up and consumers hungry for more broadcast-quality video content are the main beneficiaries. That’s the word today from Akamai Technologies, which released its “Fourth Quarter, 2015 State of the Internet Report” that offers global statistics on connection speeds, broadband adoption metrics, notable Internet disruptions, IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 implementation.

The report indicates good year-over-year growth in average connection speeds and overall broadband adoption, David Belson, editor of the report, says. “This is particularly important as consumer expectations rise and many high-profile events, like the summer games in Rio, will be streamed this year,” he notes. “The progress we’re seeing across our key metrics shows that, while there’s still work to be done, more parts of the world are increasingly able to support the delivery of broadcast-quality video content online.”

Among the report’s key Q4 2015 findings are:

• Global average connection speed increased 8.6 percent to 5.6 Mbps from the third quarter, a 23 percent increase year-over-year.

• South Korea had the top average connection speed at 26.7 Mbps, posting a 20 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2014.

• In the U.S., 10 states had 14 percent or more of unique IP addresses connected to Akamai at average speeds of at least 25 Mbps, with D.C. holding the top spot at 25 percent adoption, a 15 percent quarter-over-quarter growth.

• The global percentage of unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai that met the 4 Mbps broadband speed threshold increased 5.8 percent to 69 percent. Year-over-year growth was 17 percent.

• 19 percent of unique global IP addresses connected to Akamai at average “4K-ready” connection speeds of 15 Mbps or above, up from 15 percent in the third quarter. Year-over-year, the global 15 Mbps adoption rate grew 54 percent with nine of the top 10 countries/regions seeing gains ranging from 3.3 percent in South Korea (63 percent adoption) to 102 percent in Norway (45 percent adoption).

Akamai publishes this report quarterly, which includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform about attack traffic, broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics. Additional information on the metrics in the report and how they are analyzed is available here.