Do you need consistent 4G coverage and download speed, or aiming for faster 4G downloads? Well, you can now decide to choose on which telecom network you need to be. OpenSignal, the company which offers insight into the coverage and performance of Mobile Operators worldwide has released the second State of Mobile Networks report for India.
OpenSignal report covers a period between 1st June 2017 to 31st August 2017. It drew on more than 7 billion tests collected from 708,504 mobile devices throughout India. If you are interested in contributing to the study then you can download the OpenSignal app or Meteor app.
Key insights from OpenSignal State of Mobile Networks report (October 2017)
- Reliance Jio’s extended LTE presence across India, allowed it top the OpenSignal overall speed charts. Yet, with just 5.8 Mbps 4G speed, the operator has the lowest speed among the incumbent telecom operators.
- Jio’s average 4G download speed climbed from 3.9 Mbps to 5.8 Mbps during the six months period, thanks to the end of free data promotions.
- Airtel tops both in 4G speed and 3G speed with an average LTE download speed of 9.2 Mbps and 3G downloads of 3.6 Mbps.
- On 4G coverage, Reliance Jio beats every other telecom operator and it has gotten even better in the last six months. OpenSignal’s Jio testers were able to latch onto an LTE signal more than 95.6 percent of the time, putting Jio 32 percentage points ahead of its nearest competitor in OpenSignal’s availability metric.
- As, Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular improved their LTE coverage across India, their 4G speeds have declined considerably.
“As Airtel, Idea and Vodafone try to combat Jio’s aggressive mobile data pricing with cheap data plans of their own, usage on their networks is most likely increasing. That, in turn, is likely causing more congestion on their networks and forcing average speeds slower,“.
- On the verge of a merger, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India shared the second place in the 4G download speed. Each measured an average LTE speed of 7.4 Mbps.
Note that OpenSignal’s overall speed metric takes into account both 3G and 4G speeds, along with the level of access consumers have to each service. In this segment, Jio topped the charts with an average speed of 5.8 Mbps, beating out Airtel’s overall speed result of 5.1 Mbps. The main advantage here for Jio is its massive 4G coverage. Airtel testers spent nearly half their time on slower 3G connections. Whereas Jio testers were getting the consistent 4G network all the time in OpenSignal’s measurements.
- Airtel ranked lowest on the OpenSignal availability charts. The operator’s subscribers were only able to find a 4G signal 57.2 percent of the time.
- Airtel topped the chart with an average 3G download speed of 3.6 Mbps. Whereas, RCom has the slowest 3G speed averaging to 1.7 Mbps.
- BSNL’s average 3G speed during the test period was half of what it was six months ago. It’s probably due to the recent data combo STV’s launched by the operator which resulted in a surge in the 3G data usage.
- Vodafone India has the fastest response time with an average latency of 54.3 milliseconds. It also has the best 3G latency, averaging 83.7ms.
Regional stats in OpenSignal report
- OpenSignal covers metro circles Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and major regions like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In addition, this time the company covered mid-sized circles – Haryana, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.
- Jio dominated the 4G availability rankings in all eight regions were OpenSignal conducted the test.
- In Delhi and Mumbai circles Vodafone and Airtel’s LTE availability scores were much higher than their national scores.
- Idea Cellular has an LTE availability scores over 70 percent in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
- Airtel’s 4G speed in Kolkata and Madhya Pradesh exceeded 18 Mbps, which is double the national average.
- In Tamil Nadu, Vodafone topped by providing average 4G downloads of 14 Mbps.