Jio’s 5G speed highest, iPhone 12 most-popular 5G smartphone: Ookla

Internet download speeds on the 5G test network in the country have reached 500 Mbps, reveals Ookla’s latest Speedtest Intelligence report. Bharti Airtel recently launched its 5G services in eight cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi. On the other hand, Reliance Jio’s 5G beta trial was launched on October 5 in four Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Varanasi.

The report also reveals that telecos have been testing their networks before the October 1 launch, with 5G download speeds ranging from 16.27 Mbps to 809.94 Mbps, indicating that the telecom carriers are still recalibrating their networks. “The speeds are expected to be more stable moving forward as these networks will enter the commercial stage,” it added.

The report also suggests that, in terms of 5G download speeds, Reliance Jio is leading with 598.58 Mbps while rival Bharti Airtel clocking 197.98 Mbps in the national capital New Delhi.

In Kolkata, the telecom operators’ average download speeds varied the most since June 2022. As per the Ookla report, Airtel’s median download speed was 33.83 Mbps while Jio’s average download speed was around 482.02 Mbps.

In Mumbai, Airtel has managed to reach 271.07 Mbps average download speed as against Jio’s 515.38 Mbps since June 2022. Moreover, both Jio and Airtel achieved closer parity in Varanasi, with Airtel achieving a 5G median download speed at 516.57 Mbps against rival Jio’s 485.22 Mbps download speed since June 2022.

India was ranked 117th in the world for mobile download speed at 13.52 Mbps in August 2022, according to the Speedtest Global Index. These new 5G results show that 5G speeds are far superior than India’s existing network, reads the report.

Consumers are 5G ready

Around 89 per cent of Indian smartphone users are ready to upgrade to 5G, according to the Ookla’s recent consumer survey. Among Speedtest users, Jio saw the largest increase in 5G-capable devices (67.4 per cent), followed by Airtel (61.6 per cent), and Vi India (56 per cent).

Hyderabad is the one city where all operators have seen significant growth in terms of 5G-capable devices, with Jio even tripling its install base, reveals the findings of the report.

iPhone users have most 5G-capable phones

Nearly 51 per cent of survey respondents already had smartphones supporting 5G, shows the report. The top smartphone vendors in the market are Samsung (31 per cent), followed by Xiaomi (23 per cent), Realme, and Vivo. While only one in ten survey respondents had an iPhone, Apple smartphones tend to be more 5G capable. In fact, Apple iPhone 12 is the most popular 5G-capable device in the Indian market, according to the report.