India’s mobile network market has seen astounding growth and evolution since the country’s first mobile call in 1995. Local operators’ efforts to improve and expand 4G coverage across the country have provided customers in India with an increasingly fast and modern mobile internet experience. Data from Speedtest IntelligenceTM reveals details on performance across India’s mobile network landscape. Read on for information on speeds at the regional, country and city level and to see which operator offered the fastest service Q3 2020.
India trailed Pakistan for mobile speeds
India showed the second fastest mean download speed over mobile among the largest South Asian countries during Q3 2020, with Pakistan showing 39.7% faster mobile download speed than India. Bangladesh was third for download speed and second for upload speed. India had the slowest mean upload speed on the list at 4.18 Mbps.
Both India and Pakistan showed improved mean download speeds over mobile when comparing Q3 2019 to Q3 2020. India saw an 11.6% increase while Pakistan’s mean mobile download speeds increased by 24.1% during the same period. Bangladesh saw a smaller increase of 6.3% in mean download speed over mobile. Upload speeds remained mostly flat across South Asia’s largest countries, with only Pakistan showing a slight improvement year over year.
India also ranked second for 4G speeds
Looking specifically at performance over 4G LTE in the largest countries in South Asia during Q3 2020, the countries’ speeds followed a similar pattern, with Pakistan’s mean download speed over 4G coming in 51.3% faster than India’s 12.05 Mbps. Bangladesh closely followed India for download speed.
Upload speeds over 4G varied considerably more by country than we saw for download speeds. India showed the slowest mean upload speed over 4G at 4.25 Mbps — 65.6% slower than Pakistan’s.
Vi India was fastest over 4G
Vi India was the fastest mobile operator over 4G in India during Q3 2020 with the fastest mean download and upload speeds among top providers. Airtel followed Vi India with a mean download speed of 13.58 Mbps, while Jio showed a mean download speed of 9.71 Mbps in Q3 2020.
India led in 4G Availability
India had the highest 4G Availability among the largest South Asian countries during Q3 2020 with 93.7% of tested locations showing 4G available according to data from Speedtest® coverage scans on Android. Bangladesh followed with a 4G Availability of 78.6%, while Pakistan had the lowest 4G Availability during this period at 72.9%.
Jio leads for 4G Availability in India
Jio had the highest 4G Availability among top providers in India at 99.7% during Q3 2020. Airtel followed Jio closely with 4G available in 98.7% of tested locations during the same period. Vi India was third at 91.1%.
Mobile speeds vary among India’s largest cities
Country-wide averages don’t reflect the differences in performance that occur across a country as large as India. We looked at mobile download speeds for all cellular technologies in the 15 most populous cities in India during Q3 2020 to get a better picture of how consumers experience the internet.
Hyderabad had the fastest mean download speed over mobile during this period at 14.35 Mbps, followed closely by Mumbai at 13.55 Mbps and Visakhapatnam at 13.40 Mbps. The slowest mean download speeds on our list were measured in Nagpur (10.44 Mbps), Kanpur (9.45 Mbps) and Lucknow (8.67 Mbps). The mean download speed in first-place Hyderabad was 65.5% faster than that in Lucknow.
We will continue to monitor India’s internet speeds as operators expand 4G networks and introduce 5G networks throughout the country. Want to know how your internet is performing? Take a Speedtest to understand and report on your operator’s performance.