Reliance Jio has retained its position as the network with the fastest 4G download speeds in India in the month of March, as per TRAI data, even as rival Airtel continues its advertisements claiming to be the fastest. Jio had the fastest 4G network in the country in February as well, but languished on the fourth spot in January. This TRAI report comes within days of Reliance Jio announcing the new Jio Summer Surprise offer, under which the operator’s services can be availed for free for three more months.
Data from TRAI’s MySpeed app shows Reliance Jio leads the industry with average 4G mobile download speeds of 16.487Mbps. Following Jio on the list of networks with fastest 4G mobile download speeds are Idea (12.092Mbps), Airtel (10.439Mbps), and Vodafone (7.933Mbps). Rounding off the top 5 is Reliance Communications (2.958Mbps).
Interestingly, the four fastest networks in the country saw their average download speeds decline marginally over the previous month. In fact, Airtel and Vodafone have seen their 4G download speeds have been decreasing since January, as the chart below shows.
While it may have be the fastest network in terms of downloads, Reliance Jio lags behind the incumbents when it comes to average 4G upload speeds. Idea leads the segment with 6.536Mbps average upload speed, followed by Vodafone (5.429Mbps), and Airtel (4.455Mbps). Reliance Jio stands fourth at 3.581Mbps, followed by Reliance Communications (1.490Mbps).
The pecking order for average 4G upload speeds had been the same in February as well, but notable is the rather steep decline in Idea Cellular’s average 4G upload speed – from 7.497Mbps to 6.536Mbps. On the other hand, Reliance Jio’s speed increased from 2.208Mbps to 3.581Mbps. Vodafone and Idea did not have much change in their average 4G upload speeds.
The data comes at a time when Reliance Jio has filed a complaint against Airtel over advertisements claiming that the latter is the fastest in India, based on a report by Ookla (makers of the Speedtest app). Based on Jio’s complaint, advertisement watchdog Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) found Airtel’s claims misleading, and has asked the operator to modify or withdraw the TV commercials and website ads by April 11.
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