India's 5G speed drops amid soaring data consumption and need for spectrum

According to Ookla overall median download speeds in the country have fallen by 15 per cent from 107.03 mbps in April -June to 91.7 in July- September of CY 2024

Despite having one of the fastest rollouts of 5G as well as being the highest consumer of data in the world, India has had the sharpest fall in ranking in average median data speeds.

It dropped from 12th position among 112 countries from its peak in April-June this year to 26th in July-September, according to Ookla Speedtest.

Ookla said overall median download speeds in the country had fallen 15 per cent from 107.03 megabits per second (mbps) in April-June to 91.7 mbps in July-September, the lowest since October 2023. During the same period upload speeds dropped 11 per cent from 9.21 mbps to 8.17 mbps, the lowest since September 2023.

However, India is higher than the global average (56.76 mbps) in downloads but lower in global average uploads (11.04 mbps).

On 5G, GSMA Chief Regulatory Officer John Giusti, based on estimates, said the average 5G download speeds in India were falling -- from 300 mbps last year to 243 mbps currently -- a drop of 19 per cent.

Giusti said while the speeds were still good, there were falling due to capacity constraints. Hence spectrum availability is the key for operators to continue to meet consumer data demand, according to him.

He pointed out while data consumption worldwide would quadruple by the end of the decade, in India it would be faster because it was growing at around 50 per cent annually.

Specifically on 5G standalone networks (Reliance Jio started the standalone network and Bharti is following suit now), which offer more efficiency and latency, the story is no different.

 

According to Ookla, download speeds on 5G standalone networks have fallen by 32 per cent from 436.3 mbps in the second quarter of 2023 to 296.22 mbps in the second quarter of 2024.

This, analysts say, is owing to the sharp increase in 5G standalone network subscribers this year as well as overall data usage. Reliance completed its pan-Indian coverage only by the end of December last year.

GSMA and many experts have raised concern on the impact of huge data consumption in India, which would require large investment by telcos and more spectrum.

According to a study by IIT Madras, by 2027 as much as 80 per cent of the network capacity of all telcos together would be used. This is based on projections that data consumption in India would hit 50 gigabits per subscriber per month in 2027 from 30 gigabits now. It will go up to 75 gigabits by 2030.

David Koilpillai, chairperson of the working group of spectrum in Bharat 6G Alliance and professor in IIT Madras, said: “This huge data consumption provides a very compelling reason for allocating additional spectrum to expand capacity in 2027.”

Ericsson has projected 5G Advanced, the more evolved and efficient service, will have to be rolled out in India by 2027 as it moves towards 6G in 2030.