Australian mobile download speeds rise 10%, but upload speeds drop 30%

Mobile download speeds have risen 10% in the last year, while mobile upload speeds have dropped 30%, according to a new report from analyst firm IDC.

IDC has released the 2011 version of its annual report into mobile broadband speeds in Australia. The report - Technical Analysis of the Australian Pre-Paid and Post Paid Consumer Market - is based on more than 1000 tests conducted across Sydney, Melbourne and surrounding areas in Q4 2011, using Australia’s three mobile broadband networks.

The tests only consider consumer pre- and post-paid markets and excluded offers which are geared for businesses.

The report found that while the average download speed increased by 10% (to 3279 Kbps) since 2010, the average upload speed has actually slowed down by 30% (to 860 Kbps).

“Carriers are stepping up their game and we are seeing faster downstream speeds and latency has dropped too by 25%, but the news is bittersweet. Upload speeds are nearly one third slower,” says Dustin Kehoe, Associate Research Director, IDC Australia.

“Despite operators putting more investment into the network, the results suggest some challenges in supporting the explosion of smartphones and media tablets,” Kehoe said.

The research also found users in Sydney and surrounding areas recorded a download speed that was nearly 18% faster than those in Melbourne.

While Optus and Telstra recorded better download speeds in Sydney, the opposite was true for Vodafone.