May 30, 2014. The median speed of Internet connection rose by over four times in Russia in the course of two years. In the first three months of 2014, Ural Federal District had the highest median speed – 60 Mbit/sec against 34 Mbit/sec a year earlier. At the same time, the Internet access is also the cheapest in the Urals, Svyaznoy reports.

According to this source, the median connection speed offered by ISPs was around 31 Mbit/sec. By the end of Q1’14, the figure rose to 45 Mbit/sec. The increase was over 300% in the first three months of 2014 compared with the first quarter of 2012.

The broadband Internet access per se and the ‘part of the package’ offers became more popular due to two primary factors: a great increase in the connection speed and a drop in the price of transferring 1 Mbit of data, Svyaznoy says.

‘If you look at different constituencies, the Urals has the highest Internet connection speed among all the federal districts in Russia in the first three months of 2014: 60 Mbit/sec against 34 Mbit/sec a year earlier.’

Besides, Ural Federal District offers the Internet access most cheaply: 1 Mbit cost 11 RUR on average in the first quarter of 2014.