Jio's broadband fastest, Vodafone India ahead in download speeds: Ookla

Jio has been named the fastest broadband network provider in the country with the highest ratings in the fourth quarter of 2020 by network speed tracker Ookla's in its latest findings. Vodafone India (Vi) had the fastest mean mobile download speeds during the same period. Ookla added that among all the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, India has the fastest fixed broadband connection, but is lagging when it comes to mobile data speeds.

The Ookla report stated that Jio had the fastest mean download speed through a fixed broadband connection. Jio had a rating of 3.7 and the only positive Net Promoter Score which is used to measure customer satisfaction. ACT was placed second in terms of mean download speed over fixed broadband. Airtel was in third place, Excitel in fourth. Government-owned BSNL had the slowest mean download speed over fixed broadband. While Hathaway had the lowest ratings and also the lowest net promoter score (NPS). India has the fastest mean download speed over fixed broadband among all SAARC countries and has improved its performance significantly in the last few quarters, stated Ookla.

In the mobile data category, Vi is in the lead with the fastest mean mobile download speed in the fourth quarter of 2020. Airtel is in second place, it has a rating of 3.1 but a lower NPS. Jio is in third place with a rating of 2.9. None of the country's leading ISPs had a positive NPS. India has the third slowest mean mobile download speed among SAARC countries. Maldives is the only country among SAARC members which had 5G connectivity in 2020. Afganistan had the slowest mean mobile download speed throughout last year.

The Ookla report also noted details about India's 5G rollout roadmap. Ookla states that Airtel is ready for the rollout of commercial 5G services once spectrum allocation is completed. Recently, Airtel had conducted a successful trial of its 5G network in Hyderabad. Jio has also been getting ready to introduce its indigenously developed O-RAN 5G network, while Vi will have to wait for spectrum allocation.

However, the report stated that without a sufficient amount of wireless spectrum, LTE and 5G technologies won't be able to deliver the ultra-fast speeds and low latency promised by the emerging technology.

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