SINGAPORE - Singapore has leapt past more than 10 global nations in broadband speed, coming in 10th in speed ranking for the first time.

The position was attained after it recorded an average connection speed of 12.2 Mbps in the third quarter of last year, according to the latest study by US-based Internet specialist Akamai Technologies released on Friday.

This represents an 18 per cent jump in speed from the second quarter of last year, when the Republic recorded an average connection speed was 10.4Mbps and had a global ranking of 21st.

South Korea (25.3 Mbps) maintained its pole position globally, with Hong Kong (16.3 Mbps) coming in second, followed by Japan (15 Mbps) and Switzerland (14.5 Mbps), according to Akamai.

These four economies have consistently dominated the top four spots globally for their surfing speeds.

Akamai tracks global users' connection speeds from handling more than two trillion requests for online content daily. Most of the world's Web content goes through its computers.