Airtel 5G Download Speeds Up in Most Telecom Circles: Opensignal

Reported by Tanay Singh Thakur June 25th, 2024 at 03:59 pm

At a national level, Jio scored 261.8 Mbps in Q1 2024 compared to 323.6 Mbps in Q1 2023, and Jio users experienced a similar decrease at a circle level, too. The most negatively impacted were our 5G users in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal, said Opensignal.

Highlights

Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, has been strategically deploying 5G NSA (non-standalone) since October 2022.
The telco's strategy is different from its rival Reliance Jio, which is deploying 5G SA (standalone).
Airtel witnessed its average 5G download speeds going up in almost all telecom circles in the country.

Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, has been strategically deploying 5G NSA (non-standalone) since October 2022. The telco's strategy is different from its rival Reliance Jio, which is deploying 5G SA (standalone). As per Opensignal, a network intelligence firm, Airtel witnessed its average 5G download speeds going up in almost all telecom circles in the country. Apart from Delhi, Mumbai, and Punjab circles, the 5G download speeds for Airtel grew in all the telecom circles between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024.

For Reliance Jio, the opposite happened, said Opensignal data. Jio witnessed a decline in 5G download speeds across almost all telecom circles. The report said that as India's 5G subscriber base and availability expanded, the average download speeds declined.

Let's take a look at the data on Airtel's performance in different circles.

airtel 5g download speeds up in most

Reliance Jio has a larger 5G subscriber base than Airtel. Airtel had around 72 million 5G subscribers at the end of March 31, 2024, while Jio had more than 110 million 5G users. Since Jio also offers truly unlimited 5G data and has a wider 5G coverage, the decline is average download speeds is not a surprise.

Nationally, the average 5G download speeds seen by Airtel users have increased from 260.4 Mbps in Q1 2023 to 273.6 Mbps in Q1 2024. Over the same period, Airtel’s 5G Availability grew from 12.5% to 20.7%.

airtel 5g download speeds up in most jio

At a national level, Jio scored 261.8 Mbps in Q1 2024 compared to 323.6 Mbps in Q1 2023, and Jio users experienced a similar decrease at a circle level, too. The most negatively impacted were our 5G users in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal, said Opensignal. Nationally, Jio’s 5G Availability increased from 34.9% in Q1 2023 to 64.9% in Q1 2024

"Jio is the only operator in India with access to 700MHz low-band spectrum. Previous analyses have found that low band spectrum increases the reach of 5G mobile networks while reducing 5G download speed," said Opensignal.