Jio Offers Best 4G Coverage, Airtel Aces Video Experience: Report

OpenSignal is an independent mobile analytics company that releases reports on network performance every year.

With Airtel TV and Jio TV, both telcos are going head-to-head yet again.

(Photo: The Quint)

Independent mobile analytics company OpenSignal released its report for 2020 on the Indian telecom network’s performance for a period of 90 days starting from 1 December 2019.

The company used real-world mobile network data from over 8 million devices to quantify mobile-network experiences.

According to the report, Jio managed to offer the best 4G coverage across the country while Airtel was a favourite in terms of video experience, download speeds, voice app experience, and latency.

The report also shows that both Vodafone and Airtel have bettered their previous overall video experience from Fair to Good.

A look at how different telecom operators performed in the past 90 days. (Photo: OpenSignal)

Best Download Speeds

Winner: Airtel

According to the report, Airtel is better than its competitors with overall download speeds of 10.1 Mbps which is half megabit more than last year’s performance. It also fared well in latency with an average response time of 54.1 milliseconds i.e 3.1ms quicker than last year.

Vodafone and Idea have been surrendering their large subscriber base to rivals like Jio and Airtel although they still managed growth in their overall download speeds with 9.5 Mbps and 9.2 Mbps respectively.

Download speed performance this year. (Photo: OpenSignal)

On the other hand, comparatively, Jio was behind at 7.3 Mbps while BSNL languished with 2.9 Mbps due to its 3G-only capabilities.

Best Upload Speeds

Winner: Vodafone

Vodafone managed to take home the trophy for the best upload speeds in the country according to the OpenSignal report.

Vodafone was able to offer overall upload speeds of 3.9 Mbps. Both Idea and Vodafone offer nearly 24 percent faster speeds than Airtel, 42 percent faster than Jio, and three times faster than BSNL.

Upload speed performance of each telecom operator in India.(Photo: OpenSignal)

Best 4G Availability & Coverage

Winner: Jio

Jio bagged the accolades with the best 4G network availability and coverage in India.

In order to draw results, the company analyses the locations where customers of a network operator received a 4G signal relative to the locations visited by Opensignal users of all network operators.

The report also highlights that the other three operators: Vodafone, Airtel, and Idea are also picking up in terms of coverage.

Best Video Experience

Winner: Airtel

OpenSignal’s users found Airtel to be the best network in terms of video experience.

The lockdown has forced a lot of people to stay at home which means that they are spending more time binging on shows over the internet.

Home broadband might be the go-to solution but there are also a lot of people who depend on mobile data for their entertainment.

The report mentions that people on the Airtel and Vodafone network “now experience faster video load times and fewer interruptions during playback while streaming videos on their smartphone using mobile data services.”

Best Audio Experience

Winner: Airtel

Airtel was also able to perform decently in the voice app experience department by scoring an “Acceptable” rating according to the report.

Opensignal’s Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, etc.

Jio, BSNL, and Vodafone remained in the poor rating bracket. This means that voice apps over these networks are bad. The users may face frequent distortion, clicking sounds or silence experienced during the voice call.