The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) is among 50 key global airports offering the fastest fixed broadband internet, a survey by Seattle-based network intelligence firm, Ookla showed.
JKIA is ranked 25th on upload speeds at 62.13 megabytes per second (Mbps) while holding the 34th position on download speeds at 24.55 Mbps.
According to Ookla, the Kenyan airport is one of the only two in Africa to feature in the list alongside Cairo International Airport whose upload and download speeds are 0.85 mbps and 10.62 mbps respectively.
On latency, a measure of the delay in network communication that shows the time that data takes to transfer across the network, JKIA has the 13th longest delay in the list at 18.5 milliseconds (ms), with the shortest delay being in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.
In today’s increasingly digitalised world, airports are under pressure to invest in reliable wireless internet to facilitate travellers’ connection with the world during their transit.
Business travellers, in particular, often require continuity in a range of activities such as responding to urgent emails, uploading and sharing work presentations, and placing internet calls among others.
Internet access within airports also facilitates automated check-ins, reception of travel updates as well as authentication of biometrics.
Globally, the San Francisco International Airport in California boasts the fastest Wi-Fi with upload and download speeds hitting peaks of 233.29 mbps and 173.55 mbps respectively, followed by Arizona’s Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport with upload speeds of 186.96 mbps.
On download speeds, San Francisco is trailed by Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey whose Wi-Fi connection allows users to download 166.51 megabytes per second.
Ookla data shows that most of the airports with super-fast internet connections are concentrated in the US, with a bulk 16 making it to the list.
Others prominently featured include Indian and Chinese airports, as well as those situated in Europe.
Among the featured international airports that JKIA beats in both upload and download speeds include Cairo in Egypt, Beijing Capital and Guangzhou Baiyun in China, Tan Son Nhat in Vietnam, Ninoy Aquino in the Philippines, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Others are China’s Shanghai Hongqiao, Incheon in South Korea, Spain’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas, Brazil’s São Paulo-Guarulhos as well as the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Texas, USA.
