BackJio ranks first, Airtel second in 4G availability in India: Ookla
Reliance Jio ranked first with 98.8% 4G availability across the countryAirtel had the fastest 4G LTE speed in India during the Q3-Q4 2018 with a speed score of 11.23 Mbps
PremiumNew Delhi: Ookla today released its new report on India’s 4G availability. According to the findings of the study, Reliance Jio ranked first with 98.8% 4G availability across the country. Jio is followed by Airtel at 90.0% and Vodafone and Idea with 84.6% and 82.8% respectively, across 15 largest cities of India.
The full analysis, titled “Analyzing India’s 4G Availability: Including a look at the 15 largest cities", says 4G Availability does not automatically equate to fastest service.
To compare which of India’s largest mobile operators is fastest, Ookla used their proprietary Speed Score methodology, a combined measure of download and upload speed that incorporates several tiers of performance.
According to the report, Airtel had the fastest 4G LTE speed in India during the Q3-Q4 2018 with a speed score of 11.23 Mbps, followed by Vodafone in second with a 9.13 Mbps speed score and Jio and Idea at the third and fourth position respectively.
On the general availability front, Jio’s general availability was best, with users finding service in 99.3% of locations. Airtel was second at 99.1%, followed closely by Vodafone at 99.0% and Idea at 98.9%.
Ookla analysed general availability and 4G availability using coverage data from 250,138,853 samples on 595,034 enabled devices during Q3-Q4 2018. General availability is the percentage of an operator’s known locations where a device has access to any kind of service (including roaming). 4G availability is then the percentage of an operator’s known locations where a device has access to LTE service (including roaming).
Referencing the report, Doug Suttles, co-founder and general manager at Ookla said “Ultimately, the expansion of 4G availability in India is a win for all mobile customers regardless of their operator. We are excited to see the growth in the Indian mobile market and are eager to see how coverage continues to expand in the coming year."
Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel said “We are delighted to be once again rated as the fastest mobile network even as our network availability crosses 99%. It is a reaffirmation of our large investments and focus on building the best-in-class mobile network which is preferred by quality customers. As part of Project Leap, our endeavor to introduce latest technologies like Massive MIMO, 4G Advanced and LAA ahead of the curve have enabled us to deliver a truly differentiated network experience to our customers, and this has been confirmed time and again by various globally renowned speed test platforms."
General availability in India’s largest cities
General availability was good (in the 98-99% range) for India’s largest mobile operators in most of India’s 15 largest cities. Airtel showed general availability of 99% or higher in all 15. Jio’s lowest score (in Jaipur) was still high at 98.9%. Vodafone’s only score below 99% was in Kolkata (97.9%). Idea, on the other hand, showed general availability scores below 99% in six cities: Hyderabad (98.8%), Delhi (98.3%), Jaipur (98.0%), Kolkata (97.9%), Visakhapatnam (97.9%) and Indore (96.6%).
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