As 5G roll-out picks up pace, a report on Wednesday showed average download speeds across India increased by a whopping 115 per cent since the launch of 5G on October 1 last year. According to Ookla, a global leader in network intelligence and connectivity insights, the average download speed is expected to increase from 13.87 Mbps in September to 29.85 Mbps in January 2023. As a result, India’s position on the Speedtest Global Index improved by 49 places from 118th in September 2022 to 69th in January.
The data shows improvements in LTE speeds for both Jio and Airtel since the launch of 5G services, as all their investments in network modernization are paying off. “When 5G first launched in October 2022, there was a wide disparity in the initial 5G network performance that users were experiencing on 5G-enabled devices,” the report said.
When the 5G network started building out, the median 5G download speed oscillated between 512.57 Mbps (Gujarat) and 19.23 Mbps (Uttar Pradesh West). In fact, in nine telecom circles: Andhra Pradesh, Kolkata, North East, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh West, the average 5G download speed was less than 100 Mbps as the networks were very much at the testing stage.
“In the four months to January 2023, 5G median download speeds had grown significantly across all telecom circles” to over 200 Mbps everywhere except Jammu and Kashmir, Kolkata had speeds over 500 Mbps, the report said.
In addition, 5G investments by operators have also led to an increase in 4G LTE speeds thanks to the modernization of the underlying infrastructure. For example, the median 5G download speed is 25 times that of 4G LTE (338.12 Mbps versus 13.30 Mbps), and the median 5G upload speed is 4.5 times that of 4G LTE (19.65 Mbps versus 3.55 Mbps).
“It should be kept in mind the fact that these are still early days for 5G in India, and 5G performance is likely to come down,” the report said.
Jio and Airtel’s internet speed has improved since the launch of 5G service in India: The report appeared first on Techlusive.
