India's Mobile Data Speed Tops Some G20 Nations Like Russia, Argentina; Climbs 49 Ranks On Global Index: Ookla

As per Ookla, India's increase in speed has surpassed some G20 nations and neighbouring countries, such as Russia, Argentina, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.

5G was launched in India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2022. Ever since then, leading telcos such as Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have been actively rolling out next-gen network services across hundreds of cities in India. Now, as per a recent report from Ookla, the 5G rollout has led to a 115 percent increase in mobile data speed in India, leading to the country's rise in ranking by 49 places to 69th as of January 2023.

This increase in speed has surpassed some G20 nations and neighbouring countries, such as Russia, Argentina, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. Ookla's report also analyzed the performance of Jio and Airtel and found that Jio's early adopters experienced data speeds ranging from 246.49 Mbps median download speed in Himachal Pradesh to 506.25 Mbps in Kolkata, while Airtel's early adopters experienced speeds ranging from a 78.13 Mbps median download speed in Kolkata to 268.89 Mbps in Delhi.

Additionally, the report examined the churn pattern of Speedtest users from January to December 2022 and revealed that Vodafone Idea (Vi) lost users throughout the year, with "disconnections increased significantly" after the 5G launch. Speedtest users migrated away from Vi, primarily due to the operator's inability to launch 5G, with most customers switching to Jio and Airtel. The report also revealed that Jio gained around 1.3 percent of customers from Airtel and Vi India, while Airtel lost 0.53% to Jio but gained 0.63 percent from Vi over the same period.

When 5G was initially launched last year, there was a considerable gap in the early network performance users experienced on 5G-capable devices. The median 5G download speeds ranged from 512.57 Mbps (Gujarat) to 19.23 Mbps (Uttar Pradesh West) as the 5G network build-out commenced. However, in January 2023, the median 5G download speed had significantly increased across all telecom circles, exceeding 200 Mbps everywhere except Jammu and Kashmir, with Kolkata clocking speed over 500 Mbps.

The report also stated that the operators' investments in 5G have propelled an increase in 4G LTE speed, thanks to the modernization of the underlying infrastructure. It also emphasized the importance of continued investments in infrastructure to maintain the current level of performance and prepare for the future. Nonetheless, the report acknowledged that it is still early days for 5G in India, and 5G performance will likely decrease once commercial networks are available.