Greece’s Internet performance got even worse in 2021, based on data collected by Cable.co, as the country pays a high economic and social price for its slow online connections. In a ranking of 224 countries established by Cable.co evaluating nations according to the speed of their Internet, Greece falls to 74th place, 61st place in 2020 and 56th place in 2019.

The average internet speed is 29.7 Mbps in Greece, the survey says, adding that it takes 23 minutes to download a 5 GB movie. In Iceland, the same movie size can be downloaded in 3 minutes, while in Hungary and Spain it takes 6 at 7 minutes.

In another global ranking of 221 countries published by Cable.co which assesses markets based on Internet tariffs, Greece is in 74th place, much lower than that of Albania, North Macedonia and Turkey. However, movies and entertainment aside, the slow internet speed in Greece takes a heavy toll on the life of the country. competitiveness.

The impact

Poor connectivity affects companies, consumers and government services who increasingly depend on the Internet for their daily transactions. Companies that use cloud-based applications and data are at a particular disadvantage compared to their overseas competitors.

According to a study carried out by the Analysis group, a city with high-speed Internet, that is to say connecting to one gigabit or more, has a healthier economy.

In the United States, the researchers obtained statistics comparing 14 areas where most had high-speed Internet access versus 41 neighboring towns where households did not have fast Internet access. Cities with gigabit connections, such as fiber optic, were found to have up to 1.1% higher gross domestic product than cities with slow online connections. However, many of the problems that are caused are not so obvious.

Other research shows that the social benefits of investing in broadband are significant. Increasing access and use of broadband infrastructure in rural areas leads to higher real estate values, higher employment and population growth, higher start-ups and lower unemployment rates, according to researchers at the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank.

In addition, the expansion of broadband can also improve health and life outcomes by providing better health care in remote areas, online social networks and educational opportunities.

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