Jio Continues to Lead in 4G Download Speeds as Airtel’s Speed Rises

Jio continues to be the market leader in India for 4G download speeds with a 18.331Mbps peak download speed for the month of August, according to data by telecom regulator TRAI’s MySpeed app. The company has maintained the pole position in the ranking for seven straight months. However, this speed is slightly lower than the 18.654Mbps peak Jio recorded in July, and much lower than the company’s peak download speed in May this year - 19.123Mbps. Vodafone and Idea also saw their 4G peak download speeds decline marginally in August, while Airtel’s continued to rise for the second straight month.

4G peak downloads speeds in August in India

The 18.831Mbps peak download speed of Jio is almost twice that of second-placed Vodafone, which stands at 9.325Mbps. Vodafone’s speed stood at 11.078Mbps the preceding month. On third place is Airtel with 9.266Mbps peak download speed, which helps the country’s biggest telecom operator leapfrog Idea Cellular. The 4G peak download speed registered by Idea in August was 8.833Mbps, down from 9.464Mbps.

The average 4G download speeds for Jio, Vodafone, Airtel and Idea were 18.6Mbps, 11Mbps, 9.8Mbps, and 9Mbps, respectively. However, this means the average speeds for Jio, Vodafone, Airtel, and Idea were higher than their peak speeds. It might be possible that the data published for the operators was switched between peak and average speeds.

4G peak upload speeds in August in India

Coming to pan-India peak upload speeds, Idea has the fastest network with 6.292Mbps speed, a small rise from July’s 6.237Mbps. The remaining three telcos, on the other hand, witnessed a fall in their respective 4G peak upload speeds. Vodafone was the second-fastest at 5.782Mbps, followed by Jio and Airtel at 4.225Mbps and 4.123Mbps, respectively. In July, Vodafone, Jio, and Airtel stood at 6.054Mbps, 4.512Mbps, and 4.565Mbps.

As for the average 4G download speeds, Idea recorded 6.6Mbps speed, while Vodafone was close behind at 6.3Mbps. Jio and Airtel stood at 4.5Mbps and 4.3Mbps, respectively. Here too, the average speeds are higher than the peak speeds, indicating the same reversal.

Airtel, Vodafone and Idea – along with BSNL – have seen a turbulent year since Jio launched its operations in September last year. All five telecom majors now offer ultra-low cost data, bundled costs, and other freebies to ensure they retain customers as the telecom industry witnesses the most intense competition it has seen in the past few years.