Opensignal’s latest India mobile network experience report shows Jio as the best 5G network, Airtel leading experience awards, and Vodafone Idea improving its 5G performance during the data collection period from October 1 to December 29, 2025.
Jio dominates awards to remain India’s Best Network
Jio retains its leadership by being named India’s Best Network, winning eight awards outright and sharing one more for a total of nine wins. The operator significantly strengthens its lead in Download Speed Experience, delivering nearly double the download speeds of Airtel. The result reflects broader national progress, with India now ranking among the top 10 large land-area countries for download speed in the Global Network Excellence Index for Q4 2025.
Airtel has most overall experience awards and wins 5G upload speed
Airtel secures five awards, including one joint win, and continues to dominate the Overall Experience categories. It wins Games Experience, Voice App Experience, and Upload Speed Experience outright, while sharing the Video Experience award with Jio. Airtel also leads in 5G Upload Speed, recording 19.3 Mbps and outperforming Vi by 2 Mbps.
Vi breaks through in 5G experience
Vodafone Idea makes its strongest progress yet by winning three of the five 5G Experience awards – 5G Video Experience, 5G Games Experience, and 5G Voice App Experience – after winning none previously. However, Jio and Airtel still lead in 5G speed and coverage, showing Vi’s 5G rollout is still expanding compared to larger rivals.
Jio leads India’s operators for reliability and consistent quality
Jio also tops Reliability Experience and Consistent Quality, scoring 864 points out of 1000 for reliability and 68.9 percent for consistent quality. These results indicate Jio users are more likely to stay connected and complete everyday tasks successfully, while receiving stable performance for demanding mobile applications.
5G download and upload speed
Smartphone users of Reliance Jio have experienced 5G download speed
of 107.3 Mbps vs 58.2 Mbps from Airtel, 25.1 Mbps from Vodafone Idea.
Smartphone users of Reliance Jio have experienced 5G download speed
of 8 Mbps vs 8.4 Mbps from Airtel, 5.9 Mbps from Vodafone Idea.
India’s 5G market
India’s 5G market has shifted from rapid rollout to sustaining performance at massive scale, with more than 400 million 5G users expected by the end of 2025. The country now ranks among the top 10 large-area nations globally for mobile download speeds, supported by over 518,000 deployed 5G sites and strong regulatory support that has accelerated nationwide network expansion.
The market is entering an execution phase where user experience drives competition. India had 1,187.48 million wireless subscribers as of November 2025, and 14.69 million Mobile Number Portability requests in that month alone, showing customers are increasingly switching providers based on real network performance.
Reliance Jio leads with a nationwide standalone 5G network, with 5G already carrying more than half of its wireless data traffic. Airtel is focusing on densification and experience management, adding more than 20,000 mobile broadband base stations in a single quarter. Vodafone Idea is expanding its 5G footprint across more cities with competitive pricing, signaling recovery from its earlier lag. Meanwhile, BSNL is modernizing with nearly 98,000 new 4G sites that can be upgraded to 5G via software, positioning it for stronger competition in 2026.
BABURAJAN KIZHAKEDATH
