Mobile phone users on Airtel and Vodafone networks experienced better video quality says a new report from Opensignal released on Tuesday. The mobile analytics company in its April mobile network experience report for India said that Vodafone recorded the highest increase in providing better video experience to users. Opensignal said that Vodafone pushed its score to narrow the gap to Airtel on multiple network experience parameters including download speeds while Vodafone emerged ahead of its rivals in overall upload speeds. The company said that Jio continues to enjoy its dominant position in the 4G availability parameter as the operator is said to have achieved 98.2% score.
Vodafone Gains on Multiple Network Experience Parameters
Opensignal in its report said that Airtel extended its lead on its video experience parameter as the operator improved its score from “Fair” which indicates scores between 40 and 55 to “Good.” According to the company, the “Good” ratings indicate scores between 55 and 65 which is also the scores that Vodafone had achieved.
“This means that users on both these networks now experience faster video load times and fewer interruptions during playback while streaming videos on their smartphone using mobile data services,” Opensignal said in its report.
In the same network experience parameter, the mobile analytics company said that Jio and Idea “came toe-to-toe” as the operators had achieved similar scores and were placed in the “Fair” category. The state-owned telecommunications company BSNL with its 3G-only network is said to have been placed in the poor category.
“A Fair rating is characterized by sluggish load times and frequent stalling, most notably on higher resolutions,” Opensignal said.
The four major telecom operators were said to have been involved in a close fight in Opensignal’s voice app experience parameter. However, the company said that Airtel won the category as it improved its ratings from “Poor” to “Acceptable” as it pipped Vodafone to gain the top spot.
“An Acceptable rating means users are satisfied and generally able to comprehend without repetition,” Opensignal said.
The company said that Idea, Jio and Vodafone continued to remain in the “Poor” category. According to Opensignal, the voice app experience parameter measures the quality of experience for over-the-top voice services on mobile apps like WhatsApp, Skype and Messenger.
“This means that our users' Voice App Experience on these networks will be marred by frequent distortion, clicking sounds or silence experienced during the call,” the company said.
Opensignal said that Airtel won the download speed experience parameter with an average speed of 10.1 Mbps. However, the company said that the overall download speeds of Vodafone and Idea networks increased from around 1.5 Mbps to 9.5 Mbps and 9.2 Mbps respectively.
“Airtel still has a slight lead, but if this trend in download speed growth continues, Airtel will soon be challenged by one of its rivals for this metric,” Opensignal said.
Meanwhile, Jio and BSNL took the final spots as Opensignal said that the operators had 7.3 Mbps and 2.9 Mbps respectively with BSNL speeds limited due to its 3G-only network.
Further, the company said that Vodafone won its upload speed parameters with an average speed of 3.9 Mbps. Opensignal said that upload speeds on Vodafone were 24% faster than Airtel, 42% faster than Jio and three times faster than BSNL network.
Opensignal noted that the upload speeds are becoming a major factor as more users are switching from content consumption to content creation.
Jio Extends 4G Availability Dominance in India
While Airtel is said to have won the latency experience parameter with an average response time of 54.1 milliseconds, Jio is said to have closely followed with an response time of 56.3 milliseconds. The company said that the Vodafone users would have observed the highest improvement as it recorded a response time of 60.6 milliseconds, up by 3.6 milliseconds.
Crucially, Opensignal said that Jio has continued to extend its dominance in the 4G availability parameter as the operator had recorded 98.2% score. However, Vodafone Idea and Airtel are said to have made larger gains in this parameter as the operators try to close the gap to Jio.
It has to be noted that Opensignal’s April mobile network experience report was based on the data collected between December 1, 2019 and February 28. 2020.
