Reliance Jio users enjoy the most consistent internet experience in India, as the country's largest operator retains the "Consistent Quality" award with a score of 66.5 percent, which is 3.2 percentage points higher than Airtel. This indicates that Jio users continue to see the greatest proportion of tests that meet the minimum thresholds to support demanding commonly used mobile applications, such as video calling or uploading an image to social media, Opensignal said in its mobile network experience report for October 2024.
Also Read: Airtel Tops 5G Experience in India: Opensignal Report
Coverage Metrics
Additionally, the report states that Jio remains the sole winner of all metrics in the coverage category, which includes Availability, 5G Availability, and Coverage Experience. Jio leads in 5G availability, scoring 66.7 percent, which is over 40 percentage points higher than Airtel. "Since the October 2023 report, Jio's score has improved twice as much as Airtel's," the report said.
Jio also leads in Availability — the proportion of time users are connected to a cellular network — with 99.4 percent, which is less than one percentage point higher than second-placed Airtel. Jio also holds a lead in Coverage Experience, scoring nine points on a 10-point scale. This metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places where people live, work, and travel.
Furthermore, in the overall download speed experience, Jio leads with average speeds of 90 Mbps, nearly double those of Airtel.
5G Availability
In terms of 5G availability, Jio wins the 5G Availability award, with users on its network connecting to 5G 66.7 percent of the time — close to three times more than Airtel users. The 5G Availability metric measures the proportion of time users spend with an active 5G connection; the higher the percentage, the more time users remain connected to 5G, the report said.
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Jio 5G Network
Opensignal noted that Jio has rolled out a large-scale 5G standalone access (SA) network, using the 700 MHz band for rural areas and the 3.5 GHz band for urban centers, with mmWave (26 GHz) reserved for high-capacity applications. Jio continues to expand its SA 5G network while optimising spectrum usage.
The report also highlighted that, according to a recent analysis, 16 percent of 5G connections in India use the low-band 700 MHz spectrum, which offers extensive coverage but limits speed. The remaining connections use the upper mid-band 3.5 GHz spectrum.
Both Airtel's and Jio's average 5G download speeds have declined significantly, primarily due to network congestion caused by faster 5G adoption and increased data consumption per 5G subscriber.
Also Read: Jio Plans to Offer Subscription-Based AI Services for Small Businesses: Report
Data Collection Period
The Opensignal report examined the mobile network experiences of India's four main operators — Vi, Airtel, Jio, and BSNL — over a 90-day period from June 1, 2024, to August 29, 2024.
