Jio, Vodafone, Idea 4G Download Speeds Decline in July, Airtel’s Rises

For the second consecutive month, Reliance Jio, Idea Cellular, and Vodafone saw their 4G peak download speed decrease, while Airtel was the only one of the four big telecom operators whose 4G download speed increased. The data comes from the TRAI MySpeed app, which tracks network speeds and other information by collecting data from consumers’ phones. Jio has retained its position as the fastest telecom network in the country with a peak download speed of 18.654Mbps, making July the sixth consecutive month it has remained on top of the list.

Jio 4G download speed dips for second consecutive month

The 18.654Mbps Jio 4G peak download speed in July is slightly lower than the 18.809Mbps it recorded the preceding month. The company’s highest speed was in May, when the MySpeed app registered Jio’s 4G peak download as 19.123Mbps. Vodafone was the second fastest this month with peak download speed of 11.070Mbps on its 4G network, down from the peak of 12.297Mbps of June. Similarly, Idea’s 9.465Mbps in July is slower than the peak speed of 11.685Mbps it recorded the preceding month. Only Airtel, with 8.916Mbps 4G peak download speed, bucked this downward trend; its download speed in June was 8.233Mbps.

Similar trend in 4G upload speeds

The MySpeed data for 4G peak upload speeds shows a similar trend, with Idea leading the market at 6.238Mbps in July; its 4G peak upload speed the previous month stood at 7.552Mbps. Vodafone is the second spot with 6.050Mbps, down from 6.949Mbps in June. While Airtel rose from 4.013Mbps to 4.564Mbps, the Jio's 4G peak upload speed went down from 5.010Mbps to 4.512Mbps in July. The July 4G upload speeds for all four telecom operators are lower than what they recorded in May this year.

As for the average 4G download speed were 18.8Mbps for Jio, 12.4Mbps for Vodafone, 11Mbps for Idea, and 9Mbps for Airtel. The average 4G upload speeds were 7.1Mbps for Idea, 6.9Mbps for Vodafone, 4.8Mbps for Jio, and 4.4Mbps for Airtel.

The Jio network is expected to see a lot more traffic in the coming months as the company’s new Jio Phone handset hits the market. As many as 100 million new consumers are expected to join the network over the next year courtesy the 4G feature phone. Idea has announced it will launch its own 4G feature phone, while Airtel has said it will launch bundled plans with third-party 4G feature phone makers to take to Jio Phone.