Final answer:
European E3 connections had a speed of 34.368Mbps, which is part of the plesiochronous digital hierarchy and faster than E1 and T1 connections, but slower than T3/DS3 connections.
Step-by-step explanation:
The speed of the European E3 connections was 34.368Mbps. This is significantly faster than the legacy speeds of E1 connections, which were set at 2.048Mbps, and the T1 connections used mainly in North America, which offered speeds of 1.544Mbps. The E3 speed is also below the T3 or DS3 speeds in the United States, which go up to 44.736Mbps.
The standardized speeds are a part of the plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH) used for telecommunications networks, which is largely replaced by the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) and synchronous optical networking (SONET).