Airtel has the fastest mobile data network across India thanks to its investment in the 4G network, according to a new report, published by Tutela, a mobile quality measurement company.
Airtel has the fastest 4G download speeds by a considerable margin as compared with Jio, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.
Airtel’s 4G download speed is 8.6 Mbps, over 2 Mbps faster than the closest nationwide 4G competitor, Vodafone. Jio is in the last place for 4G download speeds.
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Idea Cellular, which does not offer nationwide 4G network, has the best average 4G upload speed at 4.7 Mbps. Vodafone is in second place at 4.5 Mbps in terms of upload speed. Airtel is in third with 4.3 Mbps in upload speed.
Jio has the best overall consistent quality, with its customers having a good enough network connection for basic usage 96 percent of the time, the report said.
Idea Cellular has 4.7 Mbps 4G upload speed. Vodafone has 4.5 Mbps 4G upload speed. Jio has 3.8 Mbps 4G upload speed.
The merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone will significantly improve the network coverage for customers of both networks.
Airtel’s network is slightly better for more demanding use-cases. Airtel’s mobile data users experienced an excellent connection 48 percent of the time, compared to Jio’s 46 percent.
Jio has the best overall consistent quality, with 95.7 percent of all tests meeting the standards for either basic or excellent consistent quality. Jio’s 4G customers were able to make a VOIP call, check emails, or use most basic apps 19 times out of 20.
Airtel was in a close second place, with 93.6 percent of tests hitting one of the two thresholds. Airtel beats Jio for first place in excellent consistent quality, meaning that Airtel’s users are the most likely to be able to stream HD video or make a video call over their mobile network connection.
Tutela’s software runs in the background of over 3,000 third-party mobile apps, which have partnered with Tutela to study network quality. Tutela measured network performance in real-world conditions, crowd-sourcing data from 9 million mobile devices throughout the day to provide insight into how consumers are experiencing different mobile networks. Tutela collected data from 1st December 2018 to 30 January 2019.
Baburajan K
