Airtel tops in 4G internet speed but Jio has the largest 4G network coverage: Report

According to OpenSignal’s State of Mobile Networks: India 2018 report, Airtel ruled when it came to 3G and 4G download speeds with its average download speed touching 9.31 Mbps. However, Reliance Jio had the upper hand when it came to 4G availability. It was close to 96.41 percent as against 95.06 percent in the October report.[caption id="attachment_4306557" align="alignleft" width="380"] Representational Image. Pixabay[/caption]While India is looking hopeful for 5G, it is yet to catch up with its 4G internet speeds. Here Airtel and Idea are ahead with Vodafone closely following Idea.Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa recorded the fastest speeds which topped out at 14.4 Mbps (Airtel) and the lowest was recorded at 3.2 Mbps (Vodafone) in Uttar Pradesh (West).In case of 4G latency, Idea and Airtel they were the lowest, rather, neck-to-neck.In 18 regional areas, even though Jio has the highest availability, Vodafone and Idea are catching up on both speed and coverage. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Kolkata, and West Bengal have seen significant coverage from Idea and Vodafone.Reliance Jio’s focus in 4G has indeed stirred the telecom market. It has been expected that 4G internet speeds might increase as many mergers and acquisitions are yet to happen. These include the expected sale of assets from Reliance Communications and Aircel, Idea and Vodafone merger, Airtel taking over Telenor and probably TATA Teleservices.While the private players are quite active in the telecom race, national telco BSNL was conspicuously absent. It is yet to enter 4G services completely.According to the report, out of the five telecom operators, four are have crossed 65 percent when it comes to LTE availability.The data was collected from 7,36,571 devices between 1 December 2017 to 28 February 2018.Disclosure- Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd