OpenSignal: Airtel posts best 4G peak speed; Jio on second in ideal conditions
However, in actual conditions, Jio fares the worst of the lot, while Airtel again aces the list. The reason behind this is congestion and inadequate capacity.
- Jul 26, 2017,
- Updated Jul 26, 2017 3:13 PM IST
New speed metric by a broadband speed testing firm shows that Airtel has the highest 4G speed under optimum conditions, followed by Jio. The results were reached based on the average speed metric designed by UK-based OpenSignal, which tested four major telecom service providers offering 4G services in India - Airtel, Jio, Vodafone, and Idea - for their highest 4G speeds between December 1,2016 to February 28, 2017.
The speed tests show Airtel 4G connections reaching up to 56.9 Mbps if the internet traffic, tower availability and other factors are favourable. Jio 4G connections reached up to 50 Mbps under similar conditions. Vodafone and Idea posted 4G speeds of 36.5 Mbps and 29.8 Mbps respectively, according to the new peak speed metric.
The study has been conducted on the basis of data collected from OpenSignal's mobile speed test application which it claims has been downloaded around 20 million times. Taking in account the five per cent of the highest peak speeds and then finding their average generates the average peak speed for a particular operator.
Although second only to Airtel when it comes to speeds under optimum conditions, Jio finishes last when it comes to 4G speeds in actual field conditions. Jio LTE connections only get 3.9 Mbps internet speed in real time, with ideal speeds 13 times this number.
Airtel aces the average 4G speed charts with more than 12 Mbps in actual conditions, with its peak speeds less than five times that number. Vodafone and Idea again both linger around 9 Mbps in case of average speeds.
ALSO READ: Interconnection charges have no relation with tariff: Mittal
Comparing these two charts show that Jio can deliver high speeds of up to 50 Mbps in ideal conditions but they are hard to come by for its subscribers in comparison to those using connections offered by its competitors.
And the reason is congestion, OpneSignal believes. The unprecendented growth of Jio saw its subscriber base growing to 100 million subscribers within a little over six months of its launch.
"Jio has experienced phenomenal growth since launching its all-4G service last autumn, signing up more than 100 million subscribers in the space of few months, and for much of that period Jio has been offering those customers nearly unlimited access to mobile data. That kind of heavy usage is bound to tax any network, forcing users to vie against one another for bandwidth," a blog post by OpenSignal said.
The way out could be capacity development, OpenSignal claims. "Our data shows that Jio's slow average 4G speeds aren't a technical limitation, but rather a capacity bottleneck. As Jio adds more capacity - either through new spectrum or building more cell sites - or as Jio's mobile data consumption levels drop, then its typical download speeds should increase," the blog post said.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel today posted 74.89 per cent plunge in consolidated net profit to Rs 367 crore for the June quarter of the current fiscal, hit hard by the disruptive pricing of newcomer Reliance Jio.
In contrast, its net income was Rs 1,462 crore in the April-June quarter of last fiscal, 2016-17.
ALSO READ: Priced at Rs 0 'India ka Smartphone' offers unlimited 4G data in just Rs 153
Bharti's total revenue fell 14 per cent to Rs 21,958 crore in the first quarter of 2017-18, from Rs 25,546 crore in the year-ago period.
The earnings numbers came in after market hours.
"The pricing disruption in the Indian telecom market caused by the entry of a new operator continued with industry revenues declining over 15 per cent year-on-year, creating further stress on sector profitability, cash flows and leverage," Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
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New speed metric by a broadband speed testing firm shows that Airtel has the highest 4G speed under optimum conditions, followed by Jio. The results were reached based on the average speed metric designed by UK-based OpenSignal, which tested four major telecom service providers offering 4G services in India - Airtel, Jio, Vodafone, and Idea - for their highest 4G speeds between December 1,2016 to February 28, 2017.
The speed tests show Airtel 4G connections reaching up to 56.9 Mbps if the internet traffic, tower availability and other factors are favourable. Jio 4G connections reached up to 50 Mbps under similar conditions. Vodafone and Idea posted 4G speeds of 36.5 Mbps and 29.8 Mbps respectively, according to the new peak speed metric.
The study has been conducted on the basis of data collected from OpenSignal's mobile speed test application which it claims has been downloaded around 20 million times. Taking in account the five per cent of the highest peak speeds and then finding their average generates the average peak speed for a particular operator.
Although second only to Airtel when it comes to speeds under optimum conditions, Jio finishes last when it comes to 4G speeds in actual field conditions. Jio LTE connections only get 3.9 Mbps internet speed in real time, with ideal speeds 13 times this number.
Airtel aces the average 4G speed charts with more than 12 Mbps in actual conditions, with its peak speeds less than five times that number. Vodafone and Idea again both linger around 9 Mbps in case of average speeds.
ALSO READ: Interconnection charges have no relation with tariff: Mittal
Comparing these two charts show that Jio can deliver high speeds of up to 50 Mbps in ideal conditions but they are hard to come by for its subscribers in comparison to those using connections offered by its competitors.
And the reason is congestion, OpneSignal believes. The unprecendented growth of Jio saw its subscriber base growing to 100 million subscribers within a little over six months of its launch.
"Jio has experienced phenomenal growth since launching its all-4G service last autumn, signing up more than 100 million subscribers in the space of few months, and for much of that period Jio has been offering those customers nearly unlimited access to mobile data. That kind of heavy usage is bound to tax any network, forcing users to vie against one another for bandwidth," a blog post by OpenSignal said.
The way out could be capacity development, OpenSignal claims. "Our data shows that Jio's slow average 4G speeds aren't a technical limitation, but rather a capacity bottleneck. As Jio adds more capacity - either through new spectrum or building more cell sites - or as Jio's mobile data consumption levels drop, then its typical download speeds should increase," the blog post said.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel today posted 74.89 per cent plunge in consolidated net profit to Rs 367 crore for the June quarter of the current fiscal, hit hard by the disruptive pricing of newcomer Reliance Jio.
In contrast, its net income was Rs 1,462 crore in the April-June quarter of last fiscal, 2016-17.
ALSO READ: Priced at Rs 0 'India ka Smartphone' offers unlimited 4G data in just Rs 153
Bharti's total revenue fell 14 per cent to Rs 21,958 crore in the first quarter of 2017-18, from Rs 25,546 crore in the year-ago period.
The earnings numbers came in after market hours.
"The pricing disruption in the Indian telecom market caused by the entry of a new operator continued with industry revenues declining over 15 per cent year-on-year, creating further stress on sector profitability, cash flows and leverage," Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
Also watch: