Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Jio continues to surprise us in 4G Availability measurements, as its scores grew up to 97.8% in the last six months. But Airtel showed the highest improvement in this category, as its scores soared by more than three percentage points to close in on the 90% mark.
Airtel held onto our Video Experience award and remained at least 5 points ahead of its rivals with an improvement of more than 8 points since our last report. The rapidly increasing demand for video consumption fueled by smartphone devices taking over as the preferred medium of consuming online media in India means this score has become increasingly relevant for operators.
Vodafone became the first operator in India to win Opensignal’s new, first-of-its-kind Voice App Experience award. It was a close race between the four major operators, and all of them earned a Poor rating (66-74). With increasingly popular voice apps like WhatsApp, Skype, and Facebook Messenger becoming part of mainstream mobile communication, Opensignal has launched Voice App Experience.
Our users on average enjoyed the fastest Download Speed Experience in India on Airtel’s network. The operator kept hold of our award with a score of 9.6 Mbps, which was more than a megabit faster than its closest rivals Idea and Vodafone. While our winner’s score showed a marginal increase from the previous report, all its competitors also showed a fair improvement in their scores.
A quick look at Opensignal’s latest awards table might give the impression that nothing has changed in the last six months. While awards may not have changed hands between the operators, our measurements indicate that operators in India have been responding to the changing dynamics in the market created by disruptive entrant Jio.
In the past months, Airtel has been refarming its 2G and 3G. networks to strengthen its 4G, and we can already see the effects it had in our measurements as the operator has substantially improved its 4G Availability, Video Experience and Latency Experience scores in the last six months. Also, the newly merged Vodafone Idea is planning to adopt a similar strategy to get an edge over Jio.
In this report, we have introduced a new metric — Voice App Experience — assessing the real-world quality perceived by users of voice communication mobile apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype. Vodafone became the first operator in India to win this metric.
For this report, we continue to treat Vodafone and Idea as individual operators, as they are still operating as separate consumer brands, and have included BSNL as a 3G-only operator. We have examined the mobile network experience of the five main mobile network operators in India: Airtel, BSNL, Idea, Jio and Vodafone, over a period of 90 days beginning June 1, 2019 to see how they fared, and further delved deeper into 42 of India's largest cities, comparing the experience users received on these five operators.
| Mobile Experience Awards India | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
October 2019,
India Report
|
V
Vodafone
|
A
Airtel
|
I
Idea
|
J
Jio
|
B
BSNL
|
4G Availability
| |||||
Video Experience
| |||||
Voice App Experience
| |||||
Download Speed Experience
| |||||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||||
Latency Experience
| |||||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
October 2019,
India
|
|---|---|
|
4G Availability
|
J
Jio
|
|
Video Experience
|
A
Airtel
|
|
Voice App Experience
|
V
Vodafone
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
A
Airtel
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
I
Idea
|
|
Latency Experience
|
J
Jio
|
Once again, Jio stood out in our 4G Availability measurements and swept away the award with an exemplary score of 97.8%. This means that our users, on average, were connected to 4G services on Jio’s network 97.8% of the time. And it's remarkable to see such high 4G Availability in India, as we often only see this in highly mature markets. We have only ever reported higher nationwide operator scores in South Korea, which was the undisputed winner of our 4G Availability metric in our recent State of Mobile Network Experience report examining 87 countries.
In the last six months, while our winner’s score grew by just 0.3 percentage points, its rival was the biggest gainer in this category. Airtel’s national 4G Availability grew by 3.6 percentage points to score 89.2%. In our last few reports, we have seen the operator improve its 4G Availability significantly to close the gap with Jio, by enhancing and upgrading its network in several regions across the country.
On the other hand, the newly merged duo — Vodafone and Idea — both remained far behind in this race. While Vodafone’s score grew by a marginal 0.6 percentage points, Idea’s fell by more than four percentage points in our measurements.
India’s mobile video consumption has shown tremendous growth over the past few years, especially due to smartphone devices taking over as the preferred medium. This increasing demand from users is fostering some notable improvement in Video Experience for the majority of operators in India. Our users enjoyed the best national Video Experience on Airtel: the operator’s score grew by a significant 8.6 points to score 53 points and earn a Fair rating (40-55) on a scale of 100. And if the experience of our users continues to increase at the same pace, there is a high likelihood that Airtel will land a Good rating (55-70) in our next report.
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
V
Vodafone
|
A
Airtel
|
I
Idea
|
J
Jio
|
B
BSNL
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||||
|
4G Video Experience
| 55.5 (± 0.15) | 57.4 (± 0.08) | 53.8 (± 0.16) | 46.3 (± 0.06) | — |
|
3G Video Experience
| 27.3 (± 0.42) | 22.9 (± 0.44) | 27.7 (± 0.45) | — | 31.9 (± 0.49) |
| 4G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
V
Vodafone
|
55 (± 0.15) |
|
A
Airtel
|
57 (± 0.08) |
|
I
Idea
|
54 (± 0.16) |
|
J
Jio
|
46 (± 0.06) |
|
B
BSNL
|
— |
| 3G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
V
Vodafone
|
27 (± 0.42) |
|
A
Airtel
|
23 (± 0.44) |
|
I
Idea
|
28 (± 0.45) |
|
J
Jio
|
— |
|
B
BSNL
|
32 (± 0.49) |
While our award winner was at least five points ahead of its competitors, we saw three key players — Vodafone, Idea and Jio — in a close-run race for second place: all three operators, with scores of 48, 47.1 and 46 points respectively, also earned Fair ratings. A Fair rating signifies sluggish video load times accompanied with stops and stutters mid-stream to varying degrees, especially on higher resolutions. BSNL, the 3G-only operator, struggled with a score of 31.9 points to end up with a Poor rating, meaning our users on its network suffered very slow load times and frequent video stalling.
The omnipresence of mobile data networks in the Asian sub-continent has made the use of voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype, and Facebook Messenger increasingly popular among smartphone users in India These apps are changing the way billions of people communicate with each other around the world, and their performance certainly contributes to customer’s overall satisfaction with their network provider.
A unique, first-of-its-kind measurement, Opensignal’s Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, etc. — using a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union for quantifying overall voice call quality with a series of calibrated technical parameters.
|
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics |
V
Vodafone
|
A
Airtel
|
I
Idea
|
J
Jio
|
B
BSNL
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||||
|
4G Voice App Experience
| 75.5 (± 0.11) | 74.1 (± 0.08) | 75.1 (± 0.13) | 70.9 (± 0.06) | — |
|
3G Voice App Experience
| 64.4 (± 0.42) | 57.8 (± 0.56) | 64.1 (± 0.48) | — | 61.6 (± 0.53) |
| 4G Voice App Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
V
Vodafone
|
75 (± 0.11) |
|
A
Airtel
|
74 (± 0.08) |
|
I
Idea
|
75 (± 0.13) |
|
J
Jio
|
71 (± 0.06) |
|
B
BSNL
|
— |
| 3G Voice App Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
V
Vodafone
|
64 (± 0.42) |
|
A
Airtel
|
58 (± 0.56) |
|
I
Idea
|
64 (± 0.48) |
|
J
Jio
|
— |
|
B
BSNL
|
62 (± 0.53) |
In our global analysis of the Voice App Experiece across 80 countries , India ranked in the lower quartiles of the charts with a Poor rating. This was also reflected at an operator level view in this report, as none of the operators managed to secure an Acceptable rating or above.
While three operators — Vodafone, Idea, and Airtel — closely contested for this award, users on Vodafone enjoyed the best Voice App Experience. However, its score of 72.6 points on a scale of 100, still landed Vodafone in the Poor category (66-74). Idea, Airtel, and Jio also lined up in the same bracket, with scores of 72.3, 72.0 and 70.9 points respectively. A Poor rating signifies that many users were dissatisfied and suffered call quality impairments accompanied by distortions. BSNL was the only operator to land a Very Poor rating, with a score of 61.6 points.
Looking at Voice Experience by network technology, in our 4G Voice Experience measurements, Vodafone and Idea were the only operators to earn an Acceptable rating (75-80), while Airtel and Jio were rated as Poor.
Once again, Airtel claimed the award in our overall Download Speed Experience category with a winning score of 9.6 Mbps. In our previous report, we saw Airtel sprint to increase the gap with its rivals, but in this race, the leader’s score grew by less than 1 Mbps. Conversely, our users experienced the greatest improvements on Vodafone and Idea’s network, as their current overall scores grew by at least 2 Mbps — to reach 7.9 and 7.6 Mbps respectively — outpacing Jio’s Download Speed Experience of 6.7 Mbps, which has increased by just 0.4 Mbps. BSNL, being a 3G-only operator, lagged behind with our users experiencing speeds of 3.1 Mbps.
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
V
Vodafone
|
A
Airtel
|
I
Idea
|
J
Jio
|
B
BSNL
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||||
|
4G Download Speed
| 9.7 (± 0.03) | 10.7 (± 0.02) | 9.2 (± 0.04) | 6.7 (± 0.01) | — |
|
3G Download Speed
| 2.8 (± 0.02) | 2.1 (± 0.02) | 2.8 (± 0.02) | — | 3.1 (± 0.02) |
| 4G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
V
Vodafone
|
10 (± 0.03) |
|
A
Airtel
|
11 (± 0.02) |
|
I
Idea
|
9 (± 0.04) |
|
J
Jio
|
7 (± 0.01) |
|
B
BSNL
|
— |
| 3G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
V
Vodafone
|
3 (± 0.02) |
|
A
Airtel
|
2 (± 0.02) |
|
I
Idea
|
3 (± 0.02) |
|
J
Jio
|
— |
|
B
BSNL
|
3 (± 0.02) |
When we split Download Speeds by technology, Airtel also secured a lead in 4G Download Speed Experience with our users seeing their average speeds boost above 10 Mbps. Both Vodafone and Idea came close to challenging Airtel with scores of 9.7 and 9.2 respectively, beating Jio’s score of 6.7 Mbps. By contrast, in 3G Download Speed Experience, at 3.1 Mbps BSNL was slightly ahead of Vodafone’s and Idea’s score of 2.8 Mbps and at least one megabit ahead of Airtel.
Idea maintained its grip on our Upload Speed Experience award with a leading score of 3.2 Mbps. In the last six months, this winner’s score has improved by just 0.2 Mbps, compared with our users on Vodafone improvement of half a megabit to reach 3.1 Mbps. Both Idea and Vodafone had a comfortable lead in overall scores — almost 30% faster than Airtel’s score of 2.4 Mbps, 50% faster than Jio’s score of 2.1 Mbps and at least three times faster than BSNL’s score of 0.9 Mbps.
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
V
Vodafone
|
A
Airtel
|
I
Idea
|
J
Jio
|
B
BSNL
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||||
|
4G Upload Speed
| 3.9 (± 0.02) | 2.6 (± 0.01) | 4.0 (± 0.02) | 2.1 (± 0.00) | — |
|
3G Upload Speed
| 0.9 (± 0.01) | 0.5 (± 0.01) | 0.9 (± 0.01) | — | 0.9 (± 0.01) |
| 4G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
V
Vodafone
|
4 (± 0.02) |
|
A
Airtel
|
3 (± 0.01) |
|
I
Idea
|
4 (± 0.02) |
|
J
Jio
|
2 (± 0.00) |
|
B
BSNL
|
— |
| 3G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
V
Vodafone
|
1 (± 0.01) |
|
A
Airtel
|
1 (± 0.01) |
|
I
Idea
|
1 (± 0.01) |
|
J
Jio
|
— |
|
B
BSNL
|
1 (± 0.01) |
This result was mirrored in our 4G Upload Speed category. However, in our 3G Upload Speed category, BSNL’s score of 0.9 Mbps was on a par with Idea and Vodafone, which led to a three-way split between them. Airtel was left behind with its score of 0.5 Mbps.
While download speeds get the most attention, upload speed is becoming more important as consumer mobile habits shift away from mere consumption to content creation and content sharing on popular social media platforms and video streaming applications. This shift gives operators with the most powerful upstream connections a distinct competitive edge. For the time being at least, Idea holds this advantage.
Jio kept hold of our award in Latency Experience, as our users on its network enjoyed the fastest network response time of 54.2 milliseconds. While Airtel missed first place by a difference of 3ms, Vodafone and Idea were further behind with scores of 64.2 and 74.5ms respectively. Our users on BSNL received the slowest Latency Experience of 80.6ms.
|
Latency Experience
Additional Metrics |
V
Vodafone
|
A
Airtel
|
I
Idea
|
J
Jio
|
B
BSNL
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in ms | |||||
|
4G Latency
| 59.9 (± 0.11) | 53.6 (± 0.05) | 70.2 (± 0.13) | 54.2 (± 0.03) | — |
|
3G Latency
| 76.6 (± 0.29) | 81.6 (± 0.32) | 87.2 (± 0.37) | — | 80.6 (± 0.32) |
| 4G Latency | in ms |
|
V
Vodafone
|
60 (± 0.11) |
|
A
Airtel
|
54 (± 0.05) |
|
I
Idea
|
70 (± 0.13) |
|
J
Jio
|
54 (± 0.03) |
|
B
BSNL
|
— |
| 3G Latency | in ms |
|
V
Vodafone
|
77 (± 0.29) |
|
A
Airtel
|
82 (± 0.32) |
|
I
Idea
|
87 (± 0.37) |
|
J
Jio
|
— |
|
B
BSNL
|
81 (± 0.32) |
When we look at our 3G and 4G Latency scores individually, the trend in the national results starts to make more sense. Interestingly, Airtel’s 4G Latency score of 53.6ms takes a lead over Jio. This reinforces the importance of offering users high 4G Availability: Jio being a 4G-only operator and having superior 4G Availability meant that our users on its network spent the most time connected to faster 4G networks, allowing the operator to win our overall Latency Experience award.
Latency — also called network responsiveness — is a metric often overlooked, but it affects the mobile data experience in many subtle ways. The lower the latency is on a network, the better the experience on a host of mobile applications and services, from web browsing and Voice-over-IP, to real-time multiplayer gaming.
In our regional analysis of 42 cities, Jio achieved remarkable heights in our 4G Availability category and swept the board by with users enjoying more than 97% in every one of the cities, and at least 98% in 32 cities. The operator's highest winning score was recorded in Ludhiana, where our users on average were connected to its 4G network a remarkable 98.9% of the time. Looking at other operators, we saw Airtel’s scores soar in this category as it established more than 90% 4G Availability in 37 cities, and its highest score of 94.2% was recorded in Kolkata. Our users on Airtel's network are seeing some very impressive progress in 4G Availability, but the operator still has some way to go to catch up with Jio. Meanwhile, Idea’s highest score of 89.7% in Chennai, and Vodafone’s of 87.9% in Ahmedabad did not manage to cross the 90% milestone.
Coming to our Video Experience analysis, Airtel stole the show by winning outright in 26 out of the 42 cities, and scoring ties in a further four metros. And in at least 30% of these cities, the operator earned a Good rating (55-60), meaning users are generally satisfied, though some may encounter loading time before playback begins and occasional stalling, especially at higher resolutions. On the other hand, it was a close competition in our new Voice App Experience metric, but Vodafone dominated the charts in the majority of the cities.
Airtel continued to triumph in our Download Speed Experience category, by winning individually in 32 cities, and drawing in a further 10, including five — Amritsar, Gwalior, Howrah, Kolkata, and Ranchi — where it finished in a three-way tie with Idea and Vodafone, and two — Kota and Lucknow — where it tied with Vodafone. That said, our users enjoyed the fastest Download Speed Experience of 13.3 Mbps on Vodafone’s network in Thiruvananthapuram. The operator was top placed in this category in five cities and shared the first place with Idea in Chandigarh and Indore. Idea also won individually in the remaining two cities — Bhopal and Chennai.
Our national trend in Upload Speed Experience was mirrored in our analysis of India's cities, as a majority of the awards were spread between Idea and Vodafone, followed by Airtel and then Jio. Idea won in eight cities outright and drew in a further 16. Our users on average experienced the fastest Upload Speed of 5.7 Mbps on Vodafone’s network, but no operator was able to cross the 6 Mbps mark.
Jio continued to display its supremacy in our analysis of Latency Experience: the operator earned an outright victory in 22 cities and tied in a further three. On average, the fastest network responsiveness was perceived by our users on Jio’s network in Navi Mumbai — a remarkable 39.5ms. At the same time, Airtel also won in 12 out of the remaining cities and drew in Faridabad and Nashik. The operator’s best score was clocked by our users in Chennai — 40.3ms, less than a millisecond apart from Jio’s. It's impressive to see such a level of responsiveness on Indian mobile networks, as these scores are on a par with some of the most mature markets across the globe. After some years of damagingly high levels of competition, the Indian mobile market seems to be finally settling down — and our users are seeing their mobile network experience improve accordingly.
Select any region or city below to display individual breakdown
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
Opensignal is the mobile analytics company committed to improving mobile connectivity across the globe. We are the independent authority for understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Get in touch for more information on our analytics solutions and industry reports.
Opensignal Limited retains ownership of this report including all intellectual property rights, data, content, graphs & analysis. Reports produced by Opensignal Limited may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed, published for any commercial purpose (including use in advertisements or other promotional content) without prior written consent. Journalists are encouraged to quote information included in Opensignal reports provided they include clear source attribution. For more information, contact [email protected].
