Airtel fastest mobile broadband network, Jio now slowest: Ookla

Broadband speed measurement firm Ookla on Thursday said it has found Bharti Airtel to be the fastest mobile broadband network, while speed on Reliance Jio network was the slowest in July.

The report, compiled based on Speedtest Intelligence data collected by Ookla between August 2018 and July 2019, shows mobile broadband speed on the Vodafone Idea network has gradually improved.

"Speedtest results show that mobile download speeds in India improved on average for all the top mobile operators over the period of August 2018 - July 2019, with Airtel holding the title of fastest operator throughout these 12 months," the report said.

The report is in contrast to data published by telecom regulator Trai.

The data compiled by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India shows Reliance Jio has consistently maintained lead throughout the year in mobile broadband speed with more than double the speed of its nearest rival.

Ookla has measured broadband performance of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio in the study.

According to the Speedtest Intelligence data, mobile download speeds for both Airtel and Jio started a decline after May 2019 and continued through July 2019.

Meanwhile, Vodafone saw a decline in mean mobile speed from November 2018 through January 2019, after which they recovered and showed a year-on-year improvement of 23.6 per cent, according to the report.

"Mobile download speeds on Idea improved in every month except December 2018, for a year-over-year improvement of 51.2 per cent. In comparison, Airtel's download speed increased 7.7 per cent during the same period and Jio's download speed went up 10.8 per cent," the report said.

The speed chart in the report shows that data speed on Reliance Jio network declined after June and was taken over by data speed on Idea network.

Overall, the average mobile data download speed in India declined after May 2019, the report said.

In the fixed line segment, Ookla report found the highest increase in mean download speed on Jio network.

"Jio saw the largest increase in mean download speed over fixed broadband among top providers during the past 12 months with a 120.1 per cent increase. BSNL increased 74.2 per cent, GTPL 32.1 per cent, Airtel 23.8 per cent, YOU Broadband 13.9 per cent, and ACT 12 per cent," the report said.