According to a report by Opensignal, the rapid deployment of 5G pan-India is coming under strain as more and more users connect to the latest mobile networks. This means that Reliance Jio’s 5G performance has been negatively impacted as compared to Bharti Airtel.
The report stated that India’s 5G customer base has increased to 180 million, with 108 million customers being on Jio’s 5G network while 72 million on Airtel’s 5G network.
As per the report, Jio and Airtel provide commercial 5G services at the same pricing as 4G, along with unlimited 5G data, which is driving data traffic growth. Meanwhile, Jio stated that 5G traffic is now approaching 30 per cent mobility data traffic.
Opensignal has cited data from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which found that data consumption using 5G surged to 12.6 per cent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023, corresponding to 6,239 petabytes.
The report highlighted that Airtel is focusing on investing in 5G capacity and has stopped investments for its 4G network. The telco is deploying a 5G non-standalone (NSA) network, whereas Jio is deploying a 5G standalone (SA) network. Further, the 5G base station count in India reached 0.446 million in May 2024, equating to 31 5G base stations per 0.1 million inhabitants.
Furthermore, the report stated that Airtel has improved across all telecom circles, barring Punjab, Mumbai, and Delhi. Nationally, the average 5G download speeds seen by Airtel’s users have increased from 260.4 Mbps in Q1 of 2023 to 273.6 Mbps in Q1 of 2024. Meanwhile, Airtel’s 5G availability grew from 12.5 per cent in Q1 of 2023 to 20.7 per cent Q1 of 2024.
Moreover, the report noted that Jio’s 5G download speed stood at 261.8 Mbps in Q1 of 2024 compared to 323.6 Mbps in Q1 of 2023, and its users experienced a similar decrease at a circle level. The most negatively impacted were 5G users in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal. However, nationally, Jio’s 5G availability increased from 34.9 per cent in Q1 of 2023 to 64.9 per cent in Q1 of 2024.
