5G push: India climbs 72 places in global mobile speed ranking

The launch of 5G services in India turbocharged mobile download speeds here, pushing the country's ranking 72 notches higher to 47th spot in Speedtest Global Index, ahead of nations like Japan, the UK and Brazil, according to Ookla.

India's speed performance has zoomed up 3.59 times since the introduction of 5G, it said dubbing the country's 5G advancement as "remarkable".

In this global pecking order, India ranked not only ahead of its neighbours like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, but also some G20 countries, such as Mexico (90th), Turkey (68th), the UK (62nd), Japan (58th), Brazil (50th place), and South Africa (48th place).

India's speed performance has seen a 3.59 times increase since the introduction of 5G, with median download speeds improving to 50.21 Mbps in August 2023, from 13.87 Mbps in September 2022.

"This improvement has led to India's rise in the Speedtest Global Index, moving up 72 places, from 119th place to the 47th position," it said.

The 5G deployments have led to an improved overall user experience across all telecom circles with operators investing in backhaul infrastructure.

The launch of 5G technology by operators like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel has led to a substantial increase in 5G subscribers, and operators still have ambitious roll-out plans, with the deployment of a significant number of 5G base stations across the country.

In fact, 5G has not only brought faster speeds but also higher customer satisfaction, as indicated by the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which shows that 5G users in India consistently rate their network operators more positively compared to 4G users.

"Additionally, 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services have been introduced to provide broadband connectivity in areas where laying fiber is costly or impractical," it said.

Mobile users in India are among the most data-intensive consumers in the world. Yet, India's 4G networks have been unable to keep pace with consumer expectations, primarily due to network congestion caused by population density, lack of cellular infrastructure, backhaul, as well as spectrum constraints.

"Following the 5G spectrum auction, operators have been able to address some of those issues and help to offload 4G traffic onto 5G networks, thus reducing 4G network congestion," it said.

The strategy has proven successful already, as 25-35 per cent of traffic is already getting offloaded on 5G from 4G.

Jio and Airtel have been implementing 5G technology since October 2022, following the acquisition of 5G spectrum licences.

"In October 2022, there was a noticeable difference in the performance of 5G networks on 5G-compatible devices," said an Ookla Insights Article posted on its website.

Median download speeds ranged from 512.57 Mbps in Gujarat to 19.23 Mbps in Uttar Pradesh West as the networks were under development. In fact, in nine telecom circles of Andhra Pradesh, Kolkata, North East, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab, Kerala, and Uttar Pradesh West, median 5G download speeds were below 100 Mbps because networks were in early testing stages.

However, by August 2023, median 5G download speeds exceeded 240 Mbps across all telecom areas, with Kolkata leading the pack with a median download speed of 385.50 Mbps, it noted.