Key takeaways

• New fixed broadband speed categories of “Basic”, “Fast” and “Super-fast” throw the performance of Indian States under the spotlight.
• Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® data shows only 2.5% of current Indian fixed connections fail to meet TRAI’s new 2 Mbps broadband grade.
• Delhi tops the list for “Super-fast” broadband connections (>300 Mbps), but that equates to a mere 1.5% of its connections; the remaining states fare worse, with Sikkim recording zero.
• Rajasthan tops the list for “Fast” broadband connections (50 Mbps – 300 Mbps) at 45.9% of connections, while Gujarat and Maharashtra lag far behind with 19.8% and 25.8%, respectively.
• Rural locations fare worse than urban, but the gap is not as large as expected, with 3.4% of rural connections failing to achieve broadband speeds, versus 2.3% of urban connections.

TRAI redefines broadband in India

TRAI, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, recently published a raft of recommendations as part of a “RoadMap to Promote Broadband Connectivity and Enhanced Broadband speed.” These are designed to help achieve the goals of the National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP-2018), which targets universal broadband provision of 50 Mbps, as well as breaking into the top-50 of the ITU’s ICT Development Index, by 2022.

The most prominent of these recommendations targets increased fixed broadband network rollout and adoption. According to TRAI, current broadband penetration levels in India are approximately 55%. Mobile accounts for the lion’s share of this, having grown strongly since the launch of 4G, while the Indian fixed broadband market remains underpenetrated, at approximately 9.1% of Indian households at the end 2020.

The details include a wide range of proposals designed to alleviate network deployment challenges, in particular relating to Right of Way (RoW) permissions, as well as encouraging India’s multitude of cable TV providers to offer broadband services. In addition, TRAI proposed a pilot Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, to subsidize broadband service in rural locations. Beyond these proposals, TRAI also recommended:

• A change to India’s definition of broadband (for fixed and mobile), increasing from the current 512 Kbps to 2 Mbps from the point-of-presence (POP) of the service provider, to the subscriber
• New categories of fixed broadband speed beyond this new baseline, including:
  • “Basic” (2-50 Mbps),
  • “Fast” (50-300 Mbps) and
  • “Super-fast” (>300 Mbps)

TRAI’s new speed tiers to drive improved internet performance

New speed tiers align India with ITU’s IDI Index

For TRAI, the introduction of a new minimum speed alongside speed tiers, helps it bring its definition of broadband into the present, while also allowing it to monitor and report on a key plank of the NDCP-2018 — India’s advancement up the ITU’s ICT Development Index (IDI).

Broadband definitions vary widely around the world in terms of throughput , from the original OECD definition of a minimum of 256 Kbps, which is still used in many markets, to markets such as the U.S., where even the current minimum of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload is no longer considered sufficient. Part of the rationale for TRAI’s recommended increase to the minimum download speed is that the 512 Kbps threshold introduced in 2013 can no longer handle even basic internet use cases. This has been thrown into sharp relief by the pandemic, which forced an unprecedented number of people to learn and work from home. In effect, traffic inflation has raised the minimum download speed for basic internet services in TRAI’s estimation to 2 Mbps. Furthermore, the introduction of speed tiers will allow Indian broadband performance to be linked to a new indicator the ITU has introduced within its ICT Development Index (IDI), in which the Indian Government is targeting a top-50 place by 2022.

Vast majority of fixed broadband connections already meet the new minimum speed threshold

Speedtest uses the Speedtest Server Network™, a global network of high-performance servers, ready to test the maximum sustained throughput of the user’s connection (download and upload speeds) and report back on key network health metrics. There are Speedtest servers in virtually every country and major population center worldwide, which means we can accurately reflect the service provided from the operator’s POP to the end-user. Our data shows only 0.5% of Indian fixed subscribers did not have access to broadband speeds under the old definition. The new definition doesn’t shift the needle much, increasing that underserved proportion of subscribers to 2.5% as of Q2 2021.

The natural conclusion from the above chart is that TRAI should consider a higher speed threshold for its definition of broadband. When the United States Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.) changed their definition of broadband in 2015, the proportion of U.S. households without access to broadband speeds hit 20%. However, with fixed broadband penetration in India below 10% of households, TRAI’s new definition serves as a marker in the sand, designed to track performance as the fixed broadband market begins to unlock.

Much emphasis is placed on the myriad of cable TV providers already present in the market, with TRAI’s recommendation on AGR fees, alongside other remedies, designed to encourage them to branch out and provide broadband to their customer bases. However, as detailed in TRAI’s submission to the DoT, many of these cable companies are sub-scale and rely on out-dated network infrastructure. If and when they start signing up internet customers, we may well see the proportion of users that fall below the broadband definition increase.

Wide variation in performance among Indian states

Access to India’s new broadband speed categories varies widely from state to state. The new minimum threshold for broadband only renders an additional 2% of households without access to broadband speeds, however this is skewed by India’s more populous states and cities. At a state/union territory level, this value varies from a low of 1.6% in Delhi, to a high of 7.6% in the largely rural State of Sikkim. This split continues when we look at the new broadband speed categories, with over 70% of connections in the States of Gujarat and Maharashtra falling into the “Basic” speed category, while almost half of connections in the States of Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh and Kamataka were at least “Fast” (>50 Mbps). The availability of “Super-fast” broadband in India is very low, ranging from a high of 1.5% of connections in Delhi, to 0% in Sikkim.

Urban-rural performance gap not as wide as expected

Indian fixed broadband penetration remains low and is heavily skewed towards urban areas. While 65.1% of the Indian populace live in rural areas (based on World Bank estimates for 2020), TRAI data shows that they account for a mere 5.6% of total fixed broadband connections. A comparison of Speedtest Intelligence data against rural and urban locations (based on India’s 2011 census) fails to show a large disparity between the two when looking at TRAI’s new speed categories, with 58.7% of connections in urban areas falling within the “Basic” speed category, compared to 61.7% in rural areas.

A more detailed segmentation of performance between rural and urban areas shows a wider performance gap, with rural locations tending to have a higher proportion of connections supporting speeds of less than 25 Mbps, while urban locations had a much higher share of connections with speeds greater than 100 Mbps. This is understandable given the lack of a modern fixed network infrastructure in many parts of rural India, coupled with challenges that the country’s ambitious BharatNet infrastructure project has encountered.

Our data shows that many connections currently sit at the boundary between “Basic” and “Fast” broadband, and this should serve as encouragement to India’s providers to boost fixed network performance and thereby drive mass market adoption of “Fast” broadband.

New speed categories to provide more clarity on network performance to Indian consumers

In addition to driving faster speeds and improved availability of fixed broadband, these changes will bring more clarity for Indian consumers when selecting a fixed broadband subscription. At Ookla, we’re fully aware that reporting on network speeds helps spur network operator competition and infrastructure investment. Introducing speed categories goes one step further, as operators in countries that have implemented this will naturally begin to include these speed categories in their marketing and products. They will also target network investment at increasing the proportion of their footprint that supports higher-tier broadband speeds.

For the Indian government and TRAI, this move will provide much needed visibility into the state of broadband within India, to better track performance and the reach of different access technologies, and to target and tweak remedies and incentives to spur further adoption.

When Vodafone India merged with Idea Cellular, the company promised a better network and new technology that would result in improved performance. So has it? We analyzed Speedtest Intelligence^TM data from August 2018 – July 2019 to find out. Because Vodafone and Idea still maintain separate brands, we’ve considered their data separately, but the trends in their performance are similar.

How mobile speeds have changed in India

Speedtest results show that mobile download speeds in India improved on average for all the top mobile operators over the period of August 2018 – July 2019, with Airtel holding onto the title of fastest operator throughout these 12 months.

However, a month-by-month view reveals a more interesting story. After May 2019, mean mobile download speeds for both Airtel and Jio started a decline that continued through July 2019. Meanwhile, Vodafone saw a decline in mean mobile speed from November 2018 through January 2019, after which they recovered to significantly increase download speed to effect a year-over-year improvement of 23.6%. Mobile download speeds on Idea improved in every month except December 2018, for a year-over-year improvement of 51.2%. In comparison, Airtel’s download speed increased 7.7% during the same period and Jio’s download speed went up 10.8%.

Operators meeting the Acceptable Speed Ratio

One measure of a mobile operator’s performance is how consistently they provide speeds at or above 5 Mbps, which is fast enough for consumers to reliably use mobile devices to stream HD video. We call this the Acceptable Speed Ratio (ASR).

Looking at mobile performance in India over the past year, Airtel had the highest ASR in every single month, with an ASR for the year of 70.4%. Despite a dip in January, Vodafone had the second highest ASR throughout the year with an average ASR of 60.3%. Jio held third place for ASR until April 2019, when they were overtaken by a steadily improving Idea. On average, though, Jio ranked third for ASR for the year at 54.5% while Idea’s ASR for the year was 52.5%.

How mobile and fixed broadband speeds compare in India

Looking at India as a whole, mean mobile download speed increased 16.2% in India last year. While this percentage alone may appear strong, it represents an improvement of less than 1.5 Mbps over 12 months. Also worrying, the country’s average mobile download speed declined after May 2019. 5G can’t come soon enough.

Meanwhile, India’s download speed over fixed broadband achieved a 25.3% increase during the past 12 months, a 6.21 Mbps improvement. Jio saw the largest increase in mean download speed over fixed broadband among top providers during the past 12 months with a 120.1% increase. BSNL increased 74.2%, GTPL 32.1%, Airtel 23.8%, YOU Broadband 13.9%, and ACT 12.0%. Hathway’s mean download speed over fixed broadband fell 0.2%. ACT was the fastest provider for each of the 12 months we examined.

India’s global ranking for mobile speeds is falling

Looking at the Speedtest Global Index^TM, India ranks poorly for mobile download speed when compared with neighboring countries and fell further behind throughout the past year. India ranked better for fixed broadband when compared to neighboring countries, though that rank, too, has slipped over the past 12 months. We’ll be interested to see if Jio’s plan to launch fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) in September improves the national average speed for fixed broadband.

Based on mobile download speed and ASR, Vodafone Idea customers are definitely benefitting from last year’s merger. Which is good, because the increase in mobile download speeds in India as a whole was nominal and not keeping pace with the rise in download speed over fixed broadband. Worse, India’s mobile download speed is not keeping up with a general global improvement. We hope continued investments by mobile operators will turn mobile speeds around even before 5G finally launches in India. We’ll continue to watch for increases in performance and to see how the coming FTTH expansion affects India’s fixed broadband speeds.

With the release of new fiber-to-the-home services and a strong push by providers to bring 4G to more parts of the country, we decided to check in and see how fixed broadband speed, mobile speed and 4G Availability have looked over the last two quarters in India.

Our analysis includes performance data from 21,096,823 consumer-initiated tests taken with Speedtest® and coverage data from over 2.5 billion coverage scans on 2,436,758 devices during Q2-Q3 2019.

For the first time ever we are also making available for download a detailed report on performance by operator including an in-depth look at peak time performance. Download the full report.

Mobile and fixed speeds are increasing at the country level

Mean fixed broadband download speeds in India rose 16.5% during Q2-Q3 2019 and topped 34.07 Mbps in September. Compared to Bangladesh, which saw a similar rate of improvement but lower speeds at 24.02 Mbps, and Pakistan, where speeds stayed relatively flat between 8.54 and 9.14 Mbps, India is the regional leader in mean download speed.

With Reliance Jio’s rollout of its new GigaFiber service in India in early September, we will likely continue to see country-wide speeds increase. (Download the full report to compare Jio’s monthly fixed download speeds before and after the launch of GigaFiber.)

However, mobile download speeds were relatively flat in India, fluctuating between 10.63 Mbps and 11.18 Mbps during Q2-Q3 2019. Regionally, India’s mobile performance is marginally faster than Bangladesh’s, which saw average speeds max out at 10.43 Mbps, and somewhat slower than Pakistan’s top speeds of 15.55 Mbps.

4G Availability continues to improve in India

India’s mobile providers are still trying to provide consistent 4G coverage across the country. We compared coverage data for over 231,274,713 samples from Speedtest Android users across Indian mobile operators in Q2-Q3 2019 to benchmark India’s 4G Availability against other markets in the region.

4G Availability is the percentage of an operator’s known locations where a device has access to LTE service (including roaming). India’s 4G Availability was relatively high at 87.9% across providers during Q2-Q3 2019. That means that Speedtest users had access to LTE service at 87.9% of surveyed locations. For comparison, 4G Availability was 58.9% in Pakistan and 58.7% in Bangladesh during the same period.

Fixed broadband speeds show wide disparities between India’s largest cities

In a country as large as India, country-wide averages factor in many regional differences. To get a clearer picture of how consumers experience the internet across the country, we looked at fixed and mobile download speeds in the 15 largest cities in India during Q2-Q3 2019.

Chennai had by far the fastest mean download speed over fixed broadband (51.07 Mbps), followed by Bengaluru (42.50 Mbps) and Hyderabad (41.68 Mbps). The slowest download speeds on our list were measured in Nagpur (20.10 Mbps), followed by Pune (22.78 Mbps) and Kanpur (23.20 Mbps).

Mobile download speeds — which include all cellular technologies — showed somewhat less variation from city to city. Mumbai (11.87 Mbps), Indore (11.80 Mbps), Visakhapatnam (11.74 Mbps), Hyderabad (11.48) and Kolkata (11.46 Mbps) had the fastest mobile download speeds. The slowest mean download speed on our list was measured in Lucknow (8.94 Mbps).

Want to see which ISPs and mobile operators were fastest in each city, plus a breakdown of how operators perform at peak times of network congestion, based on signal metrics? Download the full report.

It’s a good time to be a mobile customer in India with Airtel expanding its LTE service in major cities using the 900 MHz band and Jio making continuous progress on its mission to provide 4G coverage to all Indians. All this good news made us want to check in to see what cellular availability in India currently looks like.

We analyzed General Availability and 4G Availability using coverage data from 250,138,853 samples on 595,034 enabled devices during Q3-Q4 2018. General Availability is the percentage of an operator’s known locations where a device has access to any kind of service (including roaming). 4G Availability is then the percentage of an operator’s known locations where a device has access to LTE service (including roaming). We compared these results across Indian mobile operators to see which provides the best availability.    

Cellular service is widely available across India

General Availability statistics are good for all of India’s major mobile operators. In a country where there are only 1.33 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people, access to mobile internet is critical. Jio’s General Availability was best, with users finding service in 99.3% of locations. Airtel was second at 99.1%, followed closely by Vodafone (99.0%) and Idea (98.9%).

As you can see from the map below, most areas in India are covered by at least one of the country’s four largest mobile operators.

Coverage data relies on the presence of a user in a location, so it’s normal to see the majority of results that show coverage (seen in blue) coming from the most populated areas. When a sample is taken and a user does not have cellular coverage (seen in red), that data is transmitted later. Areas that show no dot are places where no coverage data was collected. These gaps often correspond with national parks or other remote areas that people visit less frequently.

Jio showed the densest pattern of coverage samples for General Availability across India, with only a few areas where coverage data showed no service.

Airtel’s pattern of coverage samples showed only slightly less areas with coverage. Airtel had only slightly more “no service” areas, particularly in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

Idea and Vodafone had a similar density of coverage samples showing coverage, but were strong in different parts of the country. Idea showed more density in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, while Vodafone was stronger in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Neither showed a large number of “no service” areas.

4G availability in India depends on your mobile operator

LTE connections, while widely available in much of India, depend heavily on which mobile operator a consumer has chosen. At a country-level, Jio shows an impressive 98.8% 4G Availability. That means that a Jio customer has access to LTE service at 98.8% of surveyed locations. Airtel is second at 90.0%, followed by Vodafone (84.6%) and Idea (82.8%).

Coverage data from the four largest mobile operators reveals that LTE is not available in all the areas that general cell service is in India. This is especially true in the center of the country, in Sikkim and in the Andaman Islands.

Except for a few red spots at the edges of Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Sikkim and the Andaman Islands, Jio’s 4G Availability map is nearly identical to their General Availability map.

Airtel’s 4G Availability map is still very dense, but shows gaps in LTE coverage in many areas of the country including portions of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

As we saw with overall scores, the 4G Availability map for Vodafone reveals that the operator’s LTE coverage is not as robust as their overall coverage. We saw major gaps in Vodafone’s LTE in Karnataka in particular and smaller gaps in northeastern India in general (with the exception of the most populated areas of West Bengal).

Idea’s 4G Availability map shows gaps in LTE service across the country, especially in less densely populated areas.

4G Availability does not equal fast speeds

Until 5G is rolled out, LTE is the fastest connection type available to consumers. India shows us, however, that 4G Availability does not automatically equate to fastest service. To compare which of India’s largest mobile operators is fastest, we’ve used Speed Score^TM, a combined measure of download and upload speed that incorporates several tiers of performance.

Airtel was the fastest mobile operator in India during Q3-Q4 2018, regardless of whether a customer was on LTE or not. The ranking of the other operators does not change based on LTE use with Vodafone taking second fastest, Jio third and Idea fourth.

As the above table shows, Jio’s commitment to LTE remained unwavering as demonstrated by the fact that the operator’s Speed Score did not change when looking at all technologies or on LTE alone. We cannot say why Jio’s speeds were slower than those of Airtel and Vodafone, but it’s likely a combination of network congestion and users accessing the Jio network with slower phones.

We’ll be interested to see how these numbers improve in the near term as operators continue to build out their networks.

How general and LTE availability look in India’s largest cities

Country-wide averages can hide a lot of information. To get a clearer picture of the customer experience across the country, we looked at General and 4G Availability as well as operator speeds in the 15 largest cities in India.

General Availability is strong

General Availability was good (in the 98-99% range) for India’s largest mobile operators in most of India’s 15 largest cities. Airtel showed General Availability of 99% or higher in all 15. Jio’s lowest score (in Jaipur) was still high at 98.9%. Vodafone’s only score below 99% was in Kolkata (97.9%). Idea, on the other hand, showed General Availability scores below 99% in six cities: Hyderabad (98.8%), Delhi (98.3%), Jaipur (98.0%), Kolkata (97.9%), Visakhapatnam (97.9%) and Indore (96.6%).

While these scores are all good, consistent mobile service is important to quality of life. If a consumer is living in one of the small sections of these cities that are not well served by their mobile operator it could mean they don’t have access to internet at home, school or where they do business.

4G Availability is all over the map

India’s largest mobile operators were not nearly as consistent with their 4G Availability in India’s largest cities during Q3-Q4 2018 as they were with General Availability. The exception was Jio, which still only showed one city (Jaipur) that was barely below 99%. This is no surprise given Jio’s 98.8% country-wide 4G Availability.

Airtel’s 4G Availability ranged from 92.9% in Visakhapatnam to 97.5% in Bengaluru. Vodafone’s 4G Availability ranged from 74.9% in Hyderabad to 98.0% in Ahmedabad, with two cities in the 70-79.9% band and one in the 80-89.9% band. Idea had the widest spread in 4G Availability — from 38.8% in Delhi to 96.2% in Bengaluru. This includes one city in the 60-69.9% band and three in the 80-89.9% band.

Taking a weighted average of the 4G Availability scores based on number of samples, Kanpur showed the best 4G Availability in India during Q3-Q4 2018 at 98.2%. Bengaluru and Lucknow tied for second and third at 97.6%. Delhi was at the bottom of the list with 93.0%, Kolkata second to last at 95.4% and Pune third to last at 95.9%.

The availability of LTE in India’s largest cities contrasts with our analysis of fixed broadband speeds from last year, which found Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad on top. In that analysis, Delhi ranked fifth, Kanpur fourth to last and Lucknow in the middle.

How a combined Vodafone-Idea could change the map

Vodafone and Idea merged in 2018, but the brands continue to operate independently. If that were to change, we’d expect to see better General Availability for all customers as the two brands’ coverage areas are complementary. 4G Availability would also improve, but not immediately to the level of that of Jio or Airtel because many gaps would remain. In the long run, though, combining operations could allow the two brands to reallocate resources and invest in better LTE coverage, particularly in Karnataka.

Interested in learning more about General Availability and 4G Availability? Schedule a demo at  Mobile World Congress or come see us in Hall 2 at Stand 2I25.

Millions of Hindus gather in one of four locations in India on a twelve year cycle to participate in the Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering in the world. Though the focus of the festival is a series of ritual baths in sacred waters, pilgrims and tourists use their mobile phones to help them navigate and to find friends and family in the immense crowds.

This year the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj drew over 100 million visitors, and India’s largest mobile carriers have rolled out various mobile programs to help pilgrims. We were curious to analyze how well mobile networks held up. We’ve examined mobile speeds and 4G usage in and around Prayagraj from January 14-March 4, 2019.

How the top four operators performed at the Kumbh Mela

As mentioned above, India’s largest mobile operators put significant preparation into serving the massive influx of pilgrims during the Kumbh Mela. Airtel deployed Massive MIMO to expand network capacity, Jio launched an app that included real-time info on events and a family locator, and Vodafone-Idea offered an RFID tag to help locate children.

Airtel’s emphasis on increasing capacity paid off in speed with their mean download speed in the vicinity of the Kumbh Mela coming in 96.9% faster than that of second-place Jio. Vodafone was third and Idea a distant fourth.

Speeds decrease when traveling between states

Mobile operators in India use different MCC/MNC codes in different parts of the country, which allows us to differentiate speeds for customers who are “roaming” between telecom circles. In most cases these telecom circles correspond to states and union territories, but some represent only portions of a state or combinations of multiple states.

We compared speeds experienced during the time of the Kumbh Mela for customers from eastern Uttar Pradesh with those visiting this area from elsewhere in the country. We omitted data for the Kerala and North East (which comprises most of the North Eastern states) telecom circles for reasons of sample size.

Customers visiting from seven telecom circles (Rajasthan, Madya Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, UP West, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh) showed faster mean download speeds in eastern Uttar Pradesh than local customers. The Rajasthan telecom circle showed the fastest mean download speed when “roaming” in UP East at 9.10 Mbps, 9.6% faster than the local UP East download speed.

Customers visiting in UP East from 12 telecom circles (Himachal Pradesh, Kolkata, Haryana, Maharashtra and Goa, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Mumbai) saw slower mean download speeds than local UP East customers. The Himachal Pradesh telecom circle showed the slowest mean download speed when “roaming” in UP East at 6.15 Mbps, 25.9% slower than the local UP East download speed.

Even when “roaming” across states, people remain on 4G

We also compared the percentage of time customers spent on 4G in their home telecom circles with the time spent on 4G when they were “roaming” in UP East during the Kumbh Mela. Time spent on 4G includes on- and off-network connections. We excluded the Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, North East, and Himachal Pradesh telecom circles for insufficient data.

The percentage of time consumers spent on 4G was remarkably similar in their home telecom circles and when “roaming” in UP East. The outliers were customers from West Bengal (who were connected to 4G 12.7% more frequently in UP East than when they were at home) and those from Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka (who were connected to 4G 6.4% and 6.7% less frequently, respectively, than they were at home).

Managing an influx of 100 million or more additional people is an amazing feat for a mobile network and India’s top four mobile operators held up relatively well. Customers from some parts of the country even saw a faster download speed than the locals. 4G usage also held up relatively well no matter which part of the country Indian pilgrims were visiting from.