Mobile (left) and fixed broadband (right) Internet speeds in various countries.
India is ranked 109th - behind countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka - in mobile Internet speeds and 76th for fixed broadband speeds globally, according to November data from Ookla's Speedtest Global Index.
"At the start of 2017, the average mobile download speed in India was 7.65Mbps. Heading into the end of the year, average mobile download speed is 8.80Mbps as of November. That's a 15 percent increase," the company said on Monday in a release announcing the results.
"While mobile speeds increased modestly, fixed broadband speeds increased dramatically. Average fixed broadband download speed in January was 12.12Mbps. As of November, it's at 18.82Mbps, a close to 50 percent jump," it added.
As of November, Norway ranks first in the world for mobile Internet speeds with an average download speed of 62.66Mbps. Singapore takes the top spot for fixed broadband with 153.85Mbps average downloads.
"Both mobile and fixed broadband Internet in India are getting faster, that's good news for all Indian consumers no matter which operator or plan they use to access the Internet," said Doug Suttles, Co-Founder and General Manager at Ookla. "India still has a long way to go to catch up with countries that have top speeds around the world, however, we at Ookla are highly optimistic about the capacity for growth that is available in the Indian market and look forward to watching how the market grows in this coming new year.
Ookla analyses Internet speeds across the glove based on consumer-initiated tests taken by real people using the Speedtest apps and website.
"Over 17 billion tests have been taken with Speedtest to date. From our observations in these markets, there are a handful of factors that consistently tend to drive advances in internet speeds and performance. These factors also apply to growth in India," the statement added.
It said the first and foremost factor is sufficient infrastructure. The strength and quality of networks is the baseline foundation required for faster speeds. Another key element in growth is competition. When operators compete to provide the fastest speeds and the best plans for consumers, they incentivise each other to offer progressively better options.
And a third factor in improving speeds is the consideration of new technologies that may boost network performance.
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