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India ranked 14th globally in 5G median download speeds with 301.86 megabits per second (Mbps) in the fourth quarter (Q4) of calendar year 2023 (CY23), Seattle-based internet speedtest firm Ookla said on Monday.
“Thanks to Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel’s large-scale and swift deployment across the nation, India reached the top 15 markets with the fastest reported 5G median download speeds globally,” Ookla said in a report.
The United Arab Emirates had the highest median 5G download speeds globally at 654.6 Mbps, followed by Qatar and South Korea, according to the report.
A major result of the fast-expanding 5G ecosystem in India has been the increasing countrywide 5G availability in 2023, the report stated. It pointed out that Jio’s 5G availability, or the percentage of 5G-active devices that spend the majority of their time connected to 5G networks, was higher at 68.8 per cent in Q4CY23, while Airtel clocked 30.3 per cent.
One of the main reasons for the increase in 5G availability in India is the significant growth in 5G-capable smartphones.
According to Counterpoint Research, India’s 5G smartphone shipment share crossed 52 per cent in 2023, growing 66 per cent year-on-year. The introduction of more affordable 5G-capable devices in the market has helped boost 5G adoption in the country.
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Canalys reported that in Q4CY3, devices in the $100 to $199 segment witnessed a growth of 168 per cent in the country.
Jio’s 5G network reported a quicker video start time of 1.14 seconds than Airtel’s 5G network, which was 1.99 seconds. While Jio’s customers experienced a more noticeable decrease in video start time from 4G to 5G, with a reduction of 0.85 seconds, Airtel’s consumers saw a difference of 0.44 seconds.
The Indian mobile gaming industry, with an estimated 425 million gamers in 2023, has particularly benefited from the 5G push, the report said.
Based on Ookla’s Q4 data, Jio had a lower latency of 77 milliseconds (ms) on 5G compared to Airtel’s 92 ms.
Game Latency is a measure of lag time to popular gaming server locations.
Jio’s latency improved by 29 per cent on 5G compared to 4G (109 ms), whereas Airtel’s users experienced around a 15 per cent improvement on 5G than 4G (108 ms). India has the second-largest mobile gaming industry in the world.
The report pointed out that 5G net promoter scores (NPS), a gauge of customer satisfaction and loyalty, continued to surpass those of 4G LTE (long-term evolution) in India. Jio and Airtel scored positively in their 5G NPS in Q4CY23, with similar NPS of 7.4 and 7.5, respectively.
