India’s mobile story remains one of steady progress, with strong gains across most metrics in a fast-moving market. The “India: Mobile Network Experience” report by Opensignal assessed mobile network experience in India over 90 days, from February 1 to May 1, 2025, covering all operators – Reliance Jio (Jio), Bharti Airtel (Airtel), Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). Key takeaways…

There are clear signs that the established 5G networks of Airtel and Jio are witnessing a slowdown as their 5G download scores have declined. The report attributed this fall to rising congestion as 5G adoption grows and data use per 5G subscriber increases. Even so, Airtel and Jio are credited with rapid roll-outs that have made India a regional leader in 5G availability. Both operators have increased 5G availability by more than five percentage points since the last report. Jio has passed the 70 per cent mark for the first time, with a score more than double that of Airtel. However, Airtel won all the 5G experience awards, including those for 5G download speed and 5G upload speed, reflecting the different roll-out strategies of India’s two 5G leaders.

Pan-India performance trends and awards

Jio outperformed Airtel in overall upload speed experience. Jio’s users recorded average overall upload speeds of 9.1 Mbps, marginally ahead of Airtel at 9 Mbps, followed by Vi at 5.7 Mbps and BSNL at 2.2 Mbps. Jio’s score rose by 3 Mbps since the last report, while Airtel’s rose by 2 Mbps.

However, Airtel led India’s 5G experience. It won all five 5G experience awards, covering 5G video experience, 5G live video experience, 5G games experience and both 5G speed metrics. However, Airtel’s scores for 5G download speed, 5G upload speed and 5G live video experience were lower than in the previous report. Jio users saw improvements across all 5G experience metrics except 5G download speed.

Jio led in overall coverage (availability and 5G availability) and overall ­consistency (consistent quality and reliability experience). Airtel saw the highest increase in 5G availability, but Jio remains well ahead in this metric. Jio led availability with 99.5 per cent, ahead of Airtel at 99 per cent, Vi at 96.3 per cent and BSNL at 84.4 per cent. BSNL recorded the largest gain since the last report, up six percentage points. Vi improved by one point, while Airtel and Jio saw smaller increases of less than one point. For 5G availability, Jio scored 71.8 per cent, a lead of 42 percentage points over Airtel. Both operators rose by around five percentage points from the previous report.

Average overall download speeds rose sharply with all four operators witnessing growth in download speed experience. Jio retained the award for this metric and crossed the 100 Mbps mark in these reports for the first time. Airtel won the 5G download speed award, though both Airtel and Jio recorded lower 5G speed scores, which the report attributes to increasing network load as more users adopt 5G.

Airtel and Jio have different roll-out approaches. Jio uses a large 5G standalone network with 700 MHz spectrum for rural coverage, C-band for cities and 26 GHz mmWave for high-capacity applications. Airtel has adopted a 5G non-standalone approach on its 4G core to accelerate urban roll-out. The 5G experience metrics indicate that Jio is close to Airtel, which benefits users by driving healthy competition.

Regional performance

Vi appeared in regional 5G reporting for the first time after commercially launching these services in four circles – Mumbai, Delhi, the Chandigarh region and Patna. In Mumbai, Vi was already close to Airtel on 5G availability, and on 5G video, live video and gaming experience metrics, although it lagged behind Airtel and Jio on 5G speeds. Vi’s 5G download speeds in Mumbai were more than four times its overall speeds.

Further, Mumbai was cited as a regional leader for 5G availability, ahead of cities such as Seoul and Singapore. During this period, Vi was pricing 5G aggressively in Mumbai. The report highlighted Vi’s financing challenges and the Supreme Court’s dismissal of adjusted gross revenue waiver petitions, noting that the operator has stated it cannot survive beyond the next financial year without government or investor relief.

Meanwhile, BSNL remained focused on expanding 4G. It recorded some of the largest gains since the previous report, with consistent quality of 13.8 per cent, up from 8 per cent, and both download and upload speeds more than doubling. However, it still trails well behind the other operators across most metrics.

In sum

User experience is improving across most metrics. Airtel leads on 5G experience, while Jio leads on coverage and consistency. Jio has also set the pace on overall download speeds, while Airtel stays ahead in overall video. The market remains highly competitive, with ongoing spectrum moves and network strategies shaping performance outcomes.