India moves up 8 spots in global ranking for mobile speeds in Nov: Ookla

India increased eight spots in rank globally for median mobile speeds, from 113th in October to 105th in November, according to network intelligence firm Ookla’s the Speedtest Global Index for the month of November 2022. 

Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index ranks mobile and fixed broadband speeds from around the world on a monthly basis. Mobile data speed refers to how fast your mobile connection and is measured in Mbps (megabits per second) and the higher the Mbps the higher the speed of data connection on your device. 

The insights released by Ookla, further showed that median mobile download speeds in India increased from 16.50 Mbps in October to 18.26 Mbps in November. 

While median mobile speeds show an upward trend, India decreased one spot in rank globally for overall median fixed broadband speeds, from 79th in October to 80th in November this year, as per the Ookla report, which said that India’s performance in fixed median download speeds witnessed a slight increase from 48.78 in October to 49.09 Mbps in November. 

Speed tests conducted by the research firm found mobile download speeds increase significantly with the rollout of 5G networks. India has 5G in the country since October 1, 2022. Although the widespread availability of 5G in India has yet to be achieved, early adopters in the country are already reaping many benefits from the technology.  

According to UK-based analytics company Opensignal, users’ mobile experiences have already been significantly enhanced by 5G’s availability in the country. The report also highlighted that the 5G download speed was 16.5 times faster than 4G in India in October. 

In India, 5G users recorded remarkable average mobile speeds of 242.1Mbps, which is a staggering 16.5 times quicker than the 14.7Mbps experienced with 4G, according to the Opensignal report.  

At present, two of India’s three main telecom providers - Airtel and Reliance Jio – are offering 5G services. While Airtel was the first to make a commercial debut Using non-standalone access (NSA) technology, Jio has chosen to deploy 5G standalone access (SA) and is the only Indian operator currently using the 700 MHz band (5G low-band spectrum). 

“The increase from 4G to 5G in peak download speeds — the average speed enjoyed by the top 2% of users — is also impressive,” the report said, with the top download speed for 5G in India was pegged 690.6Mbps, which is 11.6 times faster than the peak download speed for 4G.  

As per Ookla, Qatar leads the chart for global median mobile speeds, understandly for the FIFA World Cup 2022 frenzy, which showed greater mobile usage, whereas Senegal jumps 16 spots in rank globally, according to the November Speedtest Global Index. For fixed broadband download speeds, Chile remains on top position, and Palestine and Bhutan increased 14 spots in rank globally, the report said.