But some mid-range countries saw much more significant gains in average speeds. Thailand, ranked 44th worldwide, increased its average 71% year-on-year to 2.8 Mbps while Malaysia, in 101st place, grew its average 11% to 1.1 Mbps.
The average maximum connection speed recorded in Korea was 32.7 Mbps, compared to nearly 30 Mbps in Hong Kong and 25.7 Mbps in Japan.
This compares to 2.7 Mbps in China, 4.6 Mbps in India and 9.7 Mbps in Australia. Taiwan, the next highest country in Asia by this metric, was again 19th overall with 14 Mbps.
The gap between the highest and lowest countries, particularly South Korea and China, is lower by this metric than by average speeds.
Likewise, ten of the 12 APAC territories increased their average maximum speeds quarter-on-quarter, and the declines in Singapore and the Philippines were quite modest when compared to some of the reductions in average speed.
But on a year-on-year basis, only the six fastest countries in Asia increased their average maximum - with Thailand seeing the highest growth at 31% - while the remaining six all saw year-on-year declines.
Korea and Japan dominate the list of the 100 cities worldwide with the fastest connection speed, with 11 Korean cities and 53 from Japan making the grade.
Eight of the top 10 spots - including 1st placed Masan - are filled by Korean cities, with two from Japan. Korea's showing here is particularly impressive because Korea only has 150 urban areas, compared to Japan's 780, Belson said.
Hong Kong and Taiwan were the only other Asian countries to achieve inclusion in the list.