Mobile Network Speed Test Survey 2023 | 91mobiles.com

Mobile network services have grown in leaps and bounds in India over the past decade. In today’s data-driven economy, mobile network connectivity forms the mainstay of an increasing section of our lives. Data from the Department of Telecommunications shows that India has over 84.5 crore telephone service users in the country, with over 81 crore wireless internet users. Mobile network services thus play a vital role in many public digital goods being disseminated among users in the country.

This has led us to find out, through the 91mobiles Mobile Network Speed Test Survey 2023, what the distribution and network capacities of top telecom operators in India are. Here’s what we found.

Methodology

The overall structure and methodology of the survey are straight-up and are designed to help users find and understand which is the fastest, most used, and most widely distributed telecom operator in mobile network services in the country. Here’s how the survey was conducted:

• Smartphone users were asked to share screenshots of mobile speed test results
• The survey was conducted among 91mobiles users on its website and social media
• The period of the survey was between April and May 2023
• Responses to the survey were collected via Google Forms
• Users were asked to turn off Wi-Fi and use only mobile data
• Speed tests were then conducted on mobile data, via Fast.com
• Data from these tests were then submitted to the survey sheet via the Google Forms platform
• The total sampled base was over 5,000 users

Most popular mobile network in India

Unsurprisingly, Reliance Jio turns out to be the most popular mobile network telecom provider in the country. Of the sampled user base, 65 percent voted that they are primary users of Reliance Jio, which leads the four telcos in the market with an overwhelming majority.

Bharti Airtel is the largest telecom operator among the rest, with a 25.7 percent market share giving it a sizeable share of the Indian market. Vodafone-Idea, which became a combined entity in August 2018 and was the largest single telco entity at the time, now accounts for only 7.5 percent of the market, as per the 91mobiles mobile network survey. State-run telcos, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), combined accounted for 1.6 percent of the market in our survey.

Mobile network download speeds

Fastest download speed

Reliance Jio recorded the fastest mobile network download speed in our survey, with the fastest survey speed recorded at 2.4Gbps. Bharti Airtel ranked second at 1.2Gbps, marking the two telcos that recorded download speeds at above 1.2Gbps.

BSNL/MTNL recorded the fastest download speed of 110Mbps, while Vi was the slowest at 80Mbps.

Fastest average download speed

Here too, Reliance Jio ranked as the fastest telco offering mobile network connectivity, with an average mobile download speed of 499.2Mbps. It outpaces its nearest competitor, Bharti Airtel, by a mile — the latter registered an average download speed of 140.2Mbps. Vi and the state-run telcos rank much lower, with speeds of 21.2Mbps and 10.9Mbps respectively.

Interestingly, while Jio was the fastest on 5G, Airtel ranked as the fastest on 4G. On 5G, Jio was the fastest with 395.7Mbps, with Airtel second at 278.2Mbps. On 4G, Airtel was the fastest at 25.9Mbps, with Jio second at 21.8Mbps.

By region

Reliance Jio was the fastest telco offering mobile network data connectivity across all four quadrants of India, with Bharti Airtel ranked second in every quadrant too.

Mobile network upload speeds

Fastest upload speed

Bharti Airtel outpaced Reliance Jio for the fastest recorded upload speed in the mobile network survey — with its upload speed recorded at a peak of 273Mbps. Reliance Jio ranked second at 150Mbps, with both 4G and 5G networks taken into account together. Among the other two, BSNL/MTNL registered the fastest upload speed of 78Mbps, while Vi registered 41Mbps as its peak upload speed.

Fastest average upload speed

Jio beat Airtel by a slim margin in terms of the average upload speed within its network, registering 26.3Mbps as its average upload speed with both 4G and 5G networks accounted for. Bharti Airtel ranked second at 20.4Mbps, BSNL/MTNL was third with 12.4Mbps, and Vi ranked at the bottom with a 9.7Mbps average upload speed.

By region

Jio and Airtel maintain a duopoly in terms of upload speeds in east and west circles, with Jio first and Airtel second. In the north circle, BSNL and MTNL users submitted a faster average upload speed than Airtel users, while in the south, Jio registered a lowly third as Airtel topped the chart — followed by BSNL/MTNL.

Summary

Overall

In terms of the overall mobile network landscape, Reliance Jio pretty much rules the charts, accounting for the following top honours:

• Highest market share
• Fastest standalone download speed
• Fastest average download speed
• Fastest average upload speed

Bharti Airtel registered the fastest standalone upload speed among all telcos and ranked second behind Jio on all metrics.

Key takeaways from the region-wise breakdown of the mobile network survey also reveal these interesting statistics:

Region-wise

• North and east India circles registered the fastest average mobile download speeds
• Eastern circle has the slowest upload speed average
• The northern circle has the fastest average download speed

Metro cities

• Bangalore tops among metros in terms of both 5G penetration and download speed
• Seven of the top nine cities with 5G coverage are metro cities
• Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, and Mumbai returned over 50 percent 5G penetration

Major cities

• Jaipur leads the overall nation in terms of 5G penetration
• It also leads in terms of average mobile download speed in India, at 571Mbps
• Lucknow ranks second in download speed and has a 50 percent 5G penetration