Australia is down to 62nd place in new global broadband speed rankings.

Australia has dropped three places in the latest Ookla Speedtest Global Index, with a download speed of 35.11 Mbps recorded for March far below the global average of 57.91 Mbps.

Australia's mobile internet speeds are ranked 5th in the world.

Labor says the Coalition government's “multi-technology mix” National Broadband Network is to blame.

Labor communications spokesperson Michelle pointed to New Zealand's average speed – which is 2.5 times higher than Australia's – as an example of what Australia should enjoy.

New Zealand’s network of fibre to the home connections is similar to Labor’s plan for the original NBN rollout.

A spokesperson for Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said people are not choosing the fastest plans.

“It measures the speed packages that households purchase — which is the main determinant of speeds received. For example, the average potential speed of the NBN’s fibre to the node network is 70 Mbps — twice the average download speeds reported for Australia in the survey,” he said.

“The survey speed results are skewed downward by survey participants that are not connected to the NBN network but are on ADSL, which averages about 8 Mbps. The survey doesn’t take into account that in many developing countries, while those who have broadband may achieve good speeds, there are not many of them.”

The spokesperson also pointed out that in Kazakhstan, which is ranked above Australia, 86 per cent of people have no fixed broadband access.