According to a study by Ookla, India’s global ranking in median download speeds has improved by 72 places from 119th in September 2022 to 47th in August 2023 due to the rollouts of 5G network by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
Ookla’s data revealed median download speeds in India have improved by 259 per cent since the launch of 5G, rising from 13.78 Mbps in September 2022 to 50.21 Mbps in August 2023. Following the 5G spectrum auction, telcos were able to address some of the issues associated with 4G networks and help offload 4G traffic onto 5G networks, thereby lowering 4G network congestion. Approximately 25-35 per cent of traffic is already being offloaded on 5G from 4G.
Moreover, the median download speeds on 5G were 2,003 per cent faster than those on 4G, with 5G showing a median download speed of 316.24 Mbps compared to 14.97 Mbps on 4G. The speed increase has been heavily boosted by telcos investing in fibre technology to improve backhaul.
Furthermore, the study revealed that India’s median download speed has improved remarkably, increasing by 3.59 times since 5G launch in the country in October 2022. In August 2023, Jammu and Kashmir emerged as the leader in mobile median download speeds at 150.96 Mbps, surpassing Bihar (73.00Mbps) and Kolkata (66.47Mbps).
