OpenSignal’s speed test reports for all the telcos in India are out now, and Bharti Airtel has emerged as the winner among all by recording the highest download speeds on 3G and 4G network. In the speed test, Airtel recorded a speed of 7.53 Mbps followed by Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and BSNL which averaged speeds of 5.47 Mbps, 5.20 Mbps, 4.92 Mbps and 2.70 Mbps. In the past two quarters, Airtel has made significant progress in network articulation and has managed to climb to the top spot by bringing on an improvement of 25% to touch the 7.5 Mbps mark. When the test took only 4G speeds into account, then Airtel managed to register a speed of 9.96 Mbps, again staying on top. Vodafone and Idea also marched ahead of Jio in this regard, which averaged 5.47 Mbps in the 4G network test.
Airtel Leads in Speed in 16 Circles
It’s worth noting that the test was conducted state-wise and Airtel emerged as the clear winner in 16 circles with the top speed being in Orissa, where the test registered a speed of 9.88 Mbps. Airtel and Jio managed to get a similar position in Himachal Pradesh, and it was also a draw for Airtel with Idea in West Bengal. Vodafone was the other telco leading in terms of speed in Gujarat. In Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh (East), Jio was the one on top of the speed charts.
The upload speed tests showed that Idea was the clear winner among the telcos, as the operator managed to register 2.88 Mbps of upload speed which was approximately 15% higher than Vodafone in 3G. The rest of the telcos including Airtel, Jio and BSNL recorded speeds of 2.31 Mbps, 1.90 Mbps, 1.58 Mbps and 0.76 Mbps in the speed test.
Idea Cellular Races Ahead in Upload Speeds
For upload speeds, Idea was the operator which stayed ahead of others in 10 circles and resulted in a draw in 6 others. The best upload speed for Idea was recorded in Punjab where the telco averaged 3.93 Mbps. Vodafone leads the upload speeds charts in Delhi and Kolkata metro circles. Airtel was ahead of others in two regions and managed to draw in one state whereas Jio managed to draw in two circles.
Looking at the impressive results of the download speeds test by OpenSignal, Bharti Airtel CTO, Randeep Sekhon also spoke about the results. He said, “We are delighted to see a reputed international platform rating Airtel as India’s fastest network. This latest report is yet another reaffirmation of Airtel’s obsession with network excellence. Our focus remains on building the fastest and the best network that enables a high-quality digital experience for discerning customers who prefer network quality over deals and discounts."
"Over the last 90 days, our pace of deployment and investment has continued to pick up. This is allowing us to decisively win with 4G customers in the top 500 cities. We remain committed to leveraging state of the art technologies and tools to delivering India’s decisively best network and sustain our leadership,” he further added.
Jio Ranks Top for Minimum Latency
In the latency experience segment, Jio stood ahead of others with a score of 72.2 milliseconds (ms), which is 8ms better than the second place holder, Vodafone Idea which gained a score of 101.70. On the third place was Airtel which got a score of 123.99.
In 4G availability measurements, Jio emerged as the leader in 22 circles by scoring over 95%. The telco also scored 97% in ten of the circles, and across the 22 circles, the average availability score for the telco was 96.7%. Idea, on the other hand, scored 80% in three circles in contrast to Vodafone and Airtel which managed to make their position in two states.