India State of Mobile Networks is an analysis by Tutela about the latest upgrades, coverage, network quality and other parameters for the telecom operators of India. In its report for February 2019, the agency has accumulated data from 268 billion mobile network measurements and has compiled an extensive data-based report which tells us the in-depth analysis of all the telecom operators operating in India. There is no doubt, that with the completion of the second year of Reliance Jio’s operations a lot has been brewing in the Indian telecom industry. 4G penetration has increased, and the industry is already looking at the adoption of 5G technology. In the last year, two major telecom operators, Vodafone and Idea also merged their operations which has also led to a lot of changes in the telecom industry.
Reliance Jio Bags Top Spot for Overall Basic Consistency
Tutela, in its report, highlighted that Reliance Jio took the top stop in overall basic consistent quality, but when it came to more demanding use cases, Airtel’s network trumped that of Reliance Jio. Reliance Jio stayed ahead 95.7% of the time. Tutela further highlighted that Airtel customers experienced an excellent connection 48.1% of the time compared to Reliance Jio’s 45.5% of the time. The agency also stressed that Airtel ranked at the top while it was about 4G download speeds, but the telco’s network performance was underwhelming when it came to 3G networks. The report also pointed out that the merger will also significantly improve network coverage for both Vodafone and Idea customers.
When it came to downloading speeds, Airtel also ranked at the top in 4G download speeds by averaging 8.6 Mbps. The other telcos on the list were BSNL, Vodafone, Idea and Jio with 6.8 Mbps, 6.4 Mbps, 6.3 Mbps, and 6.2 Mbps respectively. When it came to uploading speeds, the telco which stood ahead of all others was Idea as it averaged 4.7 Mbps and following the company were other telcos Vodafone, Airtel, BSNL Mobile, and Jio with 4.5 Mbps, 4.3 Mbps, 4.2 Mbps, and 3.8 Mbps respectively.
Reliance Jio Shows Network Blind Spots in Chhattisgarh and Orissa
When it comes to coverage, Airtel’s tests mostly ran on 3G networks, while Jio’s 4G network popped up on the heat map on almost all of India except for some regions in Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Tutela said, “The impressive coverage of Jio’s 4G network, compared to other operators, can partly be attributed to its use of low-band spectrum.” It is worth noting that Jio owns almost all of 850 MHz spectrum and is the only operator to operate 4G on low band spectrum which is the reason for Reliance Jio’s impressive connectivity.
In the India State of Mobile, February 2019, Tutela also highlighted that 16% of all Airtel networks tests were over 3G, but in the coming times, the new LTE sites are going to drive 4G growth in the country. According to the agency, 2019 is also the year when BSNL will rollout 4G earnestly. While Airtel will deploy its 4G network on low band 900 MHz, BSNL will do it on 2100 MHz, the India State of Mobile highlighted.
