India’s 5G download speeds took a hit, dropping from 304Mbps in Q1 2023 to 280.7Mbps in Q4 2023, a report has said, adding that the decline is due to the surging popularity of 5G, as the number of subscribers of both Reliance Jio and Airtel as well as data consumption on the network both climbed significantly during the same period.
According to TRAI, data consumption using 5G surged to 12.6% in Q4 2023, corresponding to 6,239PT.Jio has reported that its “5G traffic (it) is now approaching 30% of the mobility data traffic”. The number of 5G customers increased to 180 million (from Q1 2023 through Q4 2023), with the majority being Jio True5G at 108 million and Airtel 5G Plus at 72 million.
Taking this data into account, a report by OpenSignal said that despite rolling out a 5G standalone access network, Jio’s 5G performance has been negatively impacted as its 5G network traffic, number of 5G users and 5G Availability have been growing at a faster rate than Airtel’s.
“Given the additional load on the 5G network both in terms of the number of subscribers and data traffic, not surprisingly, India’s national 5G Download Speed score decreased from 304Mbps in Q1 2023 to 280.7Mbps in Q4 2023,” the report said.
What Reliance Jio and Airtel are doing
The report mentioned that both the companies are investing in 5G and rolling out new network sites.
“Both operators have been investing in scaling networks — the total number of 5G base transceiver stations (BTS) in India increased to 446,000 in May 2024, translating into 31 5G BTS per 100,000 inhabitants,” the report added.
Jio’s 5G users experienced a nationwide drop in download speeds, going from 323.6Mbps in Q1 2023 to 261.8Mbps in Q1 2024. However, there’s a bright side where Jio’s 5G availability has significantly improved, jumping from 34.9% to 64.9% nationally.
While Jio has opted for 5G standalone access, Airtel chose to focus on 5G non-standalone access (NSA) technology, which relies on a 4G core network. Airtel has also mentioned that it offloaded its 4G traffic onto its 5G network.
“Airtel is focusing its capacity investments on 5G, and stopped investing in any capacity investments in 4G. The company stated that it has rolled out about 43,100 network sites and 55,982 kilometres of fibre, as backbone network infrastructure is critical when it comes to ensuring good quality services for end users,” the report added.
Airtel and Jio have also launched FWA products last year.
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