The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season kicked off a month ago, and with millions of fans tuning in to watch the matches in person, mobile connectivity has become more important than ever. From communicating effectively from the stadiums to sharing the thrilling moments of the match with friends and family on social media, or ordering a quick bite between overs with digital payments and booking a cab on the way back, mobile connectivity has become a vital aspect of the fan experience.
This new Opensignal analysis examines the state of mobile network experience in IPL 2023 stadiums to understand how they stack up on different aspects. So, get ready to bat for a connected IPL 2023 experience and dive into the world of mobile connectivity in stadiums.
Starting with mobile speeds, the overall download speeds across all 12 venues range from 17.2Mbps to 43.9Mbps for our users, with Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium placing at the top of the chart. Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, the world’s largest cricket stadium, is next on the list, with an overall download speed of 40.9Mbps. The download speeds in these two stadiums surpass the 40Mbps mark, in further three stadiums — Eden Gardens (Kolkata), Sawai Mansingh (Jaipur) and Arun Jaitley (New Delhi) — our users record average download speeds above 35Mbps.
Across the rest of the venues, the download speeds average above 30Mbps, with the only exceptions being Northeast India’s largest stadium Barsapara (Assam), where India achieved a historic 10-wicket win against West Indies in T20I (2018), and HPCA (Dharamshala), one of the highest altitude stadiums in the world. The download speeds in these stadiums average 28.9Mbps and 17.2Mbps, respectively.
Looking at our users’ experience when connected to 5G, India’s oldest and one of the most iconic cricket stadiums in the world — Eden Gardens (Kolkata) — is top for 5G Download Speeds, with a whopping 380.4Mbps, on average. Meanwhile, users in a further four stadiums clocked up 5G download speeds that average above 300Mbps. These include Narendra Modi Stadium (360.2Mbps), batsman’s paradise Arun Jaitley Stadium (341.8Mbps) and Chennai’s spin-friendly M.A. Chidambaram Stadium (322.9Mbps). The average download speeds in the rest of the IPL 2023 venues are above 260Mbps, while the bowler’s paradise, Barsapara stadium, places at the bottom of the table with 260.4Mbps.
Looking at average upload speeds, Narendra Modi Stadium, one of the venues for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, tops the list with users enjoying the fastest overall as well as 5G upload speeds across all 12 IPL venues for 2023 — 6.9Mbps and 25.9Mbps, respectively. Across the rest of the stadiums, the overall upload speeds range from 6.4Mbps in M. Chinnaswamy stadium to 4.1 Mbps in HPCA stadium. Meanwhile, the average 5G upload speeds in these stadiums range from 16.8Mbps in PCA stadium up to 23.5Mbps in Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket stadium.
Our analysis of mobile network Availability (% time) across IPL 2023 stadiums, shows that the proportion of time users are able to latch on to a cellular broadband service in these stadiums is quite spectacular, ranging from 96.8% in HPCA stadium to 99.1% of the time in Barspara stadium. On the other hand, 5G Availability in IPL 2023 stadiums — the proportion of time 5G users spend connected to 5G services — ranges from 28% in Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (BRSABV) Ekana Cricket stadium, Lucknow, to 41.5% in Eden Garden stadium, Kolkata.
Turning to Video Experience, each of the 12 IPL 2023 stadiums garners a Good (58-68) rating for overall Video Experience, and a Very Good (68-78) rating for 5G Video Experience. Narendra Modi Stadium is at the top of the chart for overall Video Experience beating Rajiv Gandhi Stadium’s average score by two points. Meanwhile, our users see less variation in 5G Video Experience with no statistical difference in scores across the majority of the stadiums. 
For overall Games Experience, five stadiums — Narendra Modi Stadium, Rajiv Gandhi International and Sawai Mansingh International, M. Chinnaswamy and Wankhede — earn a Fair (65–75) rating, while others rate lower. On the other hand, the 5G Games Experience across IPL 2023 venues was significantly better, with scores ranging from 85.2 points in Wankhede Stadium to 66.2 in Barsapara Stadium (on a 100 point scale). As a result, Wankhede and Barsapara Stadium achieve an Excellent (above 85) rating and a Fair rating for 5G Games EXperience, respectively, while others garner a Good (75-85) rating.
Last but not least, we look at the consistency of the quality of mobile experience to examine how often the users’ experience in these stadiums is sufficient enough to support common application requirements. Our results show that Rajiv Gandhi Stadium leads in both measures of consistency — Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality. Overall more than half of the stadiums score above 60% on Core Consistent Quality and above 80% for Core Consistent Quality. While Excellent Consistent Quality represents the proportion of tests that met recommended thresholds for more demanding applications, likewise Core Consistent Quality considers thresholds for less demanding applications.
The roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat, and the thrill of a last-minute victory — the IPL 2023 season has captured the hearts and minds of millions of fans worldwide. Whether you're cheering from the stands or following along from your smartphone, one thing is clear: mobile connectivity will play an essential role in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, and in turn, making good mobile experience a crucial aspect for fans, whether attending in person or tuning in from your smartphone. This means Indian operators will need to ensure reliable and high speed mobile connectivity in IPL 2023 venues to enhance the fan experience and provide better services. Users having a good mobile network experience will also help stadium operators increase revenue opportunities through digital advertising and mobile payments.
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