Fixed Broadband Download Speeds Increased This Month Amid Coronavirus Outbreak in India: Ookla

India's average mobile download speed remained flat for the first two weeks of March while the fixed-line broadband download speed marginally increased for the same period, a report claims. This data was analysed by Ookla, a global internet speed tracker company, which is currently observing Internet speed-related trends around the globe amid the SARS-CoV-2 (also known as novel coronavirus) pandemic. Ookla also compared India's position in terms of its February's broadband speed against other Asian countries such as China and Japan. Meanwhile, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has written to streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hotstar and YouTube to ensure smooth video streaming across the country as more people are staying indoors and taking to work-from-home in bid to curb the pandemic.

According to a note by the Ookla released on Monday, India in the Speedtest Global Index for February, ranked 128 for the mobile broadband performance and 69 for the fixed broadband speed, globally. In contrast to January performance, the country witnessed a slight dip of 1.75Mbps and a drop by three places in the average fixed broadband download speed. However, India's average mobile download speed and ranking between January and February remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, China's average mobile download speed declined from 68.3 Mbps in January to 57.26 Mbps in February, the note by Ookla read. "The overall rank of China has also dropped five places for mobile, from 6th to 11th worldwide between January and February," the note added. This was also the time when the country witnessed a massive number of deaths due to the COVID-19 outbreak pandemic. Compared to China, there was not much change in the average download speed over fixed broadband in Japan and Malaysia.

Recently, the COAI in a letter also asked streaming platforms such as Netflix and Hotstar to ensure smooth video streaming service. The letter by the industry body also advised streaming platforms to reduce the streaming quality in a bid to lower the burden on the networks in the wake of people staying at home due to the coronavirus outbreak.