India, June 2023, Fixed Broadband Experience

In this first Opensignal analysis of the fixed broadband experience in India, we analyzed real-world data from our users across India and seven of India’s major cities, examining six key measures of the broadband user experience: Broadband Success Rate, Consistent Quality, Video Experience, Download Speed, Peak Download Speed, and Upload Speed. Our analysis includes a comparison of user experiences throughout the day, as well as during peak hours from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m., providing a comprehensive view of broadband performance. We have only included the largest brands by market share in each city — those that serve at least five percent of our user base. Nationally, we only consider the three operators with over 5% national market share, and these are the operators present across all of India’s regions.

Key Findings:

• Airtel and Jio excel nationally in various aspects of the Indian broadband user experience. Airtel reigns supreme for broadband speeds in India, outpacing Jio and BSNL in Broadband Download and Upload Speed, as well as Broadband Peak Download Speed. On the other hand, Jio stands out as the winner in Broadband Consistent Quality, outperforming the competitors, even during peak hours (6 p.m. to 12 a.m.). Jio also leads in Broadband Success Rate, closely followed by Airtel and BSNL. Moreover, Jio and Airtel take the top spot in terms of Broadband Video Experience.
• The major cities in India that we have analyzed — Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Kolkata — exhibit varying competitive landscapes and user experience.        
• Airtel dominates outright in Ahmedabad and Mumbai for Broadband Download Speed and Broadband Peak Download Speed.       
• Across all seven included major cities, Jio excels at Broadband Consistent Quality either outright or jointly. Jio wins the metric outright in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, as well as doing so on the national level.
• Our Jio users have the outright best available Broadband Video Experience in Mumbai and Hyderabad, and the provider shares first place in Ahmedabad, Chennai and Kolkata, as well as doing so on the national level.
• Hathway stands out in Bengaluru with the best Broadband Download and Upload Speed. In Chennai, Hathway ties with ACT for the top spot in all three speed metrics – Broadband Download Speed, Broadband Peak Download Speed and Broadband Upload Speed. 

• Broadband Video Experience is generally rated as Very Good (68-78) across the seven cities analyzed in this report, with multiple providers achieving similar scores. This suggests that users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.

   

Broadband experience at the national level     

Jio excels in Broadband Consistent Quality, outperforming competitors when measured across all hours of the day, and also during peak hours. This measure of user experience evaluates the percentage of network tests that meet the minimum recommended performance threshold for commonly used applications. Our users on Jio's network recorded 62.3%, which dips down to 59% during the peak hours (6 p.m.-12 a.m.).

When it comes to broadband speeds in India, Airtel emerges as the clear winner. With an impressive Broadband Download Speed of 42.7Mbps, Airtel outpaces Jio by 8Mbps (23%), and BSNL by 12.7Mbps (42.5%).

Airtel's speed superiority is further highlighted by its Broadband Peak Download Speed, which reaches a stunning 219.4Mbps — 41.1%-57.6% faster than Jio and BSNL. Additionally, Airtel excels in Broadband Upload Speed, surpassing Jio by 3.9Mbps and outperforming BSNL by a significant 12.4Mbps.

In terms of Broadband Success Rate, Jio takes the lead with an impressive score of 98.2%, closely followed by Airtel with 98.1% and BSNL with 97.1%. These scores reflect the high number of successful tests conducted by our users on the respective broadband networks of these providers.

Jio and Airtel jointly claim the leading position in Broadband Video Experience, both earning impressive and identical scores of 68.8 points on a 100-point scale — surpassing BSNL by a significant margin of 3.4 points. By virtue of this, the experience of Airtel and Jio users rates Very Good (68-78), one rating higher than BSNL. This means that users on Jio and Airtel networks, on average, enjoy a superior video streaming experience on higher definition compared to BSNL.

Broadband experience at the city level      
 

Ahmedabad

Airtel dominates the competition in Ahmedabad's broadband experience, leading or tying for the highest scores in five out of the six metrics.

Jio is the undisputed champion of Broadband Consistent Quality, beating GTPL and Airtel by substantial margins, even during the peak hours of the day. Across all hours of the day, Jio beats its rivals by around 21 percentage points, rising to a lead of approximately 26.6 percentage points during peak hours.

Our Airtel users enjoy the fastest Broadband Download Speed in Ahmedabad of 44.4Mbps — 5.8Mbps and 10.5Mbps, faster than the speeds enjoyed by Jio and GTPL users, respectively. But when it comes to Broadband Peak Download Speed, Airtel users enjoy 212.1Mbps, which is a staggering 35.8% faster experience than Jio users and a whopping 2.2 times faster than GTPL users.

Airtel and Jio also share the top spot in Broadband Video Experience, with closely matched scores exceeding 70 points on a 100-point scale — ahead of GTPL's score of 69.3 points. These scores indicate a similar user experience across the three ISPs analyzed, placing the broadband experience of users in the Very Good (68-78) category.

Airtel, GTPL, and Jio exhibit statistically similar Broadband Success rates, indicating a level playing field among these providers in Ahmedabad for this metric.

Bengaluru

Broadband Video Experience rates as Very Good (68-78) across all four providers analyzed in Bengaluru, but ACT users enjoy the best Broadband Video Experience, given its score of 71.3 points on a 100-point scale.

Hathway users observe the best Broadband Download Speed and Broadband Upload Speed scores in Bengaluru — 65.6Mbps and 47.9Mbps, respectively. Hathway users see 16.3-31.8% faster Broadband Download Speed and 16.6%-36.6% faster Broadband Upload Speed, compared to users on the other three providers.

Users on ACT experience the highest average Broadband Peak Download Speed of 301.4Mbps in Bengaluru, around 61.7Mbps or 25.7% faster than Airtel and Hathway’s statistically tied scores of 237.6-241.9Mbps.

Broadband Success Rate among providers across Bengaluru show a three-way statistical tie between ACT, Jio and Hathway for first place, with scores of 98.1-98.5%. Airtel narrowly misses out on joining its rivals on the winners’ podium as its upper confidence interval does not overlap with ACT’s lower confidence interval.

Meanwhile, there is no statistically significant difference in terms of Broadband Consistent Quality between the four providers, even during the peak hours.

Chennai

Jio and Hathway share the top spot for Broadband Consistent Quality in Chennai. Our users across all four ISPs in the city observe no statistically significant differences between their average and peak time Broadband Consistent Quality scores.

Hathway and ACT statistically tie for the highest average broadband download speeds, with our users experiencing speeds of 60-61.2Mbps. Airtel follows closely with 54.8Mbps, while Jio trails behind at 49.2Mbps.

ACT and Hathway are also top for Broadband Peak Download Speed, with users observing peak speeds in the 283.9-295.4Mbps range.

In Broadband Video Experience, Jio and ACT are top, all four ISPs earn a Very Good (68-78) rating for Broadband Video Experience with scores of 70.3-71.5 points.

No service provider was better than Hathway on Broadband Success Rate in Chennai.

Delhi

Excitel outpaces the competition in terms of broadband speeds in Delhi, as Excitel users enjoy the top Broadband Peak Download Speed as well as the fastest average broadband download and upload speeds in Delhi.

The typical Broadband Video Experience in Delhi rates as Very Good (68-78), with our Airtel  and Excitel users enjoying the best available Broadband Video Experience, due to a statistical tie.

Jio is top for Broadband Consistent Quality — a measure of a network's ability to support common applications' requirements — with a score of 68%. In Delhi, only our Excitel users see a statistically significant drop in their experience during peak hours compared to their overall score for Broadband Consistent Quality, which is measured across all hours of the day.

All three ISPs in Delhi statistically tie for the highest scores in terms of Broadband Success Rate — tracking the proportion of successfully completed tests.

Hyderabad

Hathway achieves the highest Broadband Download Speed in Hyderabad with a score of 58.8Mbps — 13% faster than Airtel, 21.9% faster than Jio and 50.4% faster than ACT.

Hathway and Airtel share the top spot for Broadband Peak Download Speed, with statistically tied scores in the 237.1- 244.6Mbps range.

Jio users in Hyderabad experience the highest average Broadband Upload Speed, 39.4Mbps on average, which is around 8.3% faster than that seen by our Airtel and Hathway users, which statistically tie for second place with scores of 35.7-37Mbps.

Jio also leads in Broadband Video Experience in Hyderabad with a score of 72 points, followed closely by Airtel with 70.6 points, while ACT and Hathway are slightly behind with cores in the 69.7-70 points range. All four ISPs achieve a Very Good (68-78) rating for their Broadband Video Experience.

For Broadband Consistent Quality, Jio users report the highest score of 71.3% — 8.3 percentage points greater than that seen by those on second-placed Airtel. There is no statistically significant difference between our users’ Broadband Consistent Quality measured across all hours of the day and that seen only during the peak hours (6 p.m. to 12 a.m.).

There is no statistically significant difference between Jio, ACT and Airtel for Broadband Success Rate, with our users having a similar experience across all three ISPs.

Mumbai

Airtel users in Mumbai experience the fastest broadband download speeds at 51.9Mbps, 9.7% and 40.9% faster than the speeds seen by Jio and Hathway users, respectively. Airtel also achieves a peak download speed of 241.7Mbps, outperforming Hathway and Jio — which statistically tie for second place — by 21.6-43.3Mbps. Furthermore, Airtel’s scores for Broadband Download Speed and Broadband Peak Download Speed are more than twice as fast as One Broadband’s —  2.2 times and 2.8 times faster, respectively.

Airtel and Jio jointly dominate in Broadband Upload Speeds in Mumbai, with our users experiencing impressive average speeds of 38.3-38.6Mbps. Meanwhile, One Broadband and Hathway lag behind significantly, with statistically equivalent scores in the 20-21.1Mbps range.

Jio is top in terms of the average Broadband Consistent Quality in Mumbai, while Airtel, Hathway and One Broadband statistically tie for second place with scores of 52-59.7%.

Our Jio users have the best available experience when streaming video over fixed broadband in Mumbai; Jio places first for Broadband Video Experience with a score of 70.9 points (on a 100-point scale). This gives it a lead of 1.1 points over second-placed Airtel’s 69.8 points. Hathway and One Broadband share last place with statistically tied scores of 67.9-68.3 points, around 2.8 points behind Jio.

Kolkata

Jio and Alliance Broadband tie for top average Broadband Download Speed, with both operators' speeds bordering around the 40.3Mbps mark — while Wish Net, Airtel and GTPL follow behind with statistically tied scores of 33.9-35.9Mbps.

Jio surpasses its competitors in terms of Broadband Upload Speed, achieving a score of 29.9Mbps. Users on Jio experience upload speeds that are, on average, 23.1% faster than the statistical tie between Alliance Broadband and Wish Net.

Alliance Broadband, Jio, Wish Net, and GTPL share the top position in Broadband Video Experience in Kolkata, with statistically equivalent scores ranging from 68.3-69.3 points (on a 100-point scale). Our users’ experience with these four providers place them in the Very Good (68-78) category, while Airtel narrowly places one category lower — Good (58-68) .

All broadband providers are statistically tied for Broadband Success Rate with scores in the 96.8-98.3% range.

Aside from Wish Net, there is no statistical difference between peak time and overall average scores for Broadband Consistent Quality across all providers.

Methodology and definitions

Broadband Success Rate

Measure the average proportion of successfully completed tests relative to all the tests executed for each unique Wi-Fi network on each provider.

Broadband Consistent Quality

Measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. Excellent Consistent Quality uses six key performance indicators, including download and upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss and time to first byte. Metrics are represented as a percentage of users’ tests that have met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games.

Average — Consistent quality is measured across all users in all hours of the day.

Peak — By analyzing all tests, across all carriers nationally we can see that, on average, the 6-hour period between 6 pm and 12 am is the busiest. In this period, we see the highest amount of device activity and the largest drops in users’ experience relative to the 24-hour average. We have selected these hours to benchmark a ‘peak experience’.

Broadband Video Experience

Opensignal’s adaptive video experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's network. The metric measures users’ adaptive video experience using a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) approach inspired by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters of adaptive bitrate video streaming and the perceived video experience as reported by real people.

The videos tested are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers and include a wide selection of resolutions that dynamically match the network conditions, available bandwidth and device performance. Resolutions range from 144p to 2160p, which is also called 4K or UHD (Ultra High Definition). The model calculates a MOS score on a 0 to 100 scale by evaluating a number of parameters, including: the time to start playing the video, the quality of the video, the time playing each resolution, and the time spent re-buffering.

Broadband Download Speed

Measured in Mbps, Broadband Download Speed represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across a provider’s network.

Broadband Peak Download Speed

Measured in Mbps, Broadband Peak Download Speed represents the 98th percentile of the user speed distribution. i.e. this is what the users with the highest speeds within the footprint experience.

Broadband Upload Speed

Measured in Mbps, Broadband Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds for each internet service provider observed by our users across their fixed networks. Typically, upload speeds are slower than download speeds, but this often depends on the technology used for broadband connections.