Epitiro, the UK-based broadband communications authority, said that broadband speeds in the Middle East have improved by 18 per cent in January as compared to September 2009.

The research revealed improvements in 16 of the 21 countries and regions monitored including a trend of improving reliability and connection times.

The data for the research was collected using Epitiro’s national broadband analysis technologies. Key performance indicators such as TCP Throughput, HTTP speed, latency, packet loss, jitter and overall connection failures were measured across leading ISPs.

Access technologies such as XDSL, WiMAX, 3G and others were included.

'Consumer Quality of Experience (QoE) is directly related to both speed and reliability.” said Iain Wood, head of regulatory solutions, Epitiro.

'While we are seeing a considerable variance in performance amongst countries, the overall news is encouraging for the region as a whole,” he added.

Over 120,000 tests were conducted from the “last mile” to provide a view of performance levels from a consumer viewpoint. The company also provides monitoring equipment for middle mile and core network deployment, as well as a full data analysis and reporting service.

“Understanding national broadband performance is vital for governments and leading ISPs as is comparative analysis with countries that are major trading partners,” continued Wood.

“We’ll continue to collect data on the region with an aim to expanding our analysis in future.”

Epitiro currently provides broadband network intelligence solutions to regulators and operators in the region including Bahrain TRA, Lebanon TRA, Etisalat and others. – TradeArabia News Service