Median download speeds in India have more than doubled since launch of 5G

Since the launch of 5G services in India, the median download speeds increased by 115 per cent from 13.87 Mbps to 29.85 Mbps, a report released by network intelligence and connectivity insights Ookla showed. India's position on Ookla's Speedtest Global Index improved by 49 places from 118th in September to 69th in January.

In terms of internet speed, India now stands ahead of some of the G20 countries, including Mexico, Russia, and Argentina, as well as its neighbours like Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.

"India is also catching up with the likes of Turkey (30.98 Mbps median download speed), South Africa (34.71 Mbps) and Brazil (35.85 Mbps)," it said.

Additionally, the 5G Availability or the proportion of users with 5G-capable devices that use the 5G network, has jumped 55 times from 0.1 per cent in September to 5.5 per cent in January. Currently, Cuttack, Chennai and Noida have the highest 5G availability in India.

"During the early days of 5G, in October 2022, we could see 5G device testing in just over a dozen of cities. Only three cities had a 5G Availability exceeding 2 per cent namely, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Siliguri. Fast forward to January 2023, and 5G Availability exceeded 2 per cent across 39 cities where both Jio and Airtel had rolled out their networks. 5G Availability across three cities was above 13 per cent, namely in Cuttack, Chennai, and Noida," the report said. 

The 5G investments made by the operators have also propelled an increase in 4G LTE speeds due to the modernization of the underlying infrastructure.

"For instance, the median 5G download speed is 25 times that of 4G LTE (338.12 Mbps vs. 13.30 Mbps), and the median 5G upload speed is 4.5 times 4G LTE (19.65 Mbps vs 3.55 Mbps). Ookla's insight report also witnesses the improvements in LTE speeds (both for Airtel and Jio) in multiple cities as they are offloading 4G traffic onto their 5G network, therefore reducing 4G network congestion," it said.

Vi India losing customers to Jio, Airtel

The report also highlighted the churning pattern between January and December 2022. It showed that Vi India has been losing users throughout 2022, and following the 5G launch, the disconnections increased significantly.

Most of Vi's customers have moved away to Jio (1.88 per cent) and Airtel (1.32 per cent). Jio gained around 1.3 per cent of customers from Airtel and Vi. In comparison, Airtel has lost 0.53 per cent to Jio but gained 0.63 per cent from Vi over the same period.

"Jio's $25 bn investment seems to be paying off. In January 2023 Jio achieved median 5G download speeds above 400 Mbps across ten telecom circles," the report said.

According to the financial results of the third quarter of the current financial year, Airtel had the highest average revenue per user (ARPU) at Rs 193. It was followed by Jio at Rs 178.2 and Vi at Rs 135.