India Ranks 69th In Mobile Internet Speed In World, Climbs 10 Spots In January

According to Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, India climbed 10 spots in January 2023 to become the 69th fastest mobile internet provider in the world, being amongst the biggest gainers during the month.

The report showed that India’s median mobile download speed reached 29.85 Mbps, while the upload speed reached 6.16 Mbps, with a latency of 31 milliseconds.

In January 2023, the mobile upload speed in India improved by 18% from 25.29 Mbps in December 2022, while the upload speed improved by 12% at the same time.

The United Arab Emirates climbed up a spot to regain the top spot in terms of mobile internet speed with a median download speed of 161.15 Mbps, 5.4 times faster than India. India was not the biggest gainer during January 2023, as the small island nation of Papua New Guinea gained 24 spots to reach 101 in the mobile internet speed ranking.

In terms of fixed broadband, India managed to climb two spots to have the 79th fastest fixed broadband connections out of a total of 179 countries that Ookla tracks. The country recorded a median download speed of 50.02 Mbps and a median upload speed of 48.77 Mbps, with a latency of only 6 milliseconds. 

On the other hand, Singapore had the fastest broadband in the world, with a median download speed of 234.55 Mbps, nearly 5 times faster than India.

5G Launch Accelerates India’s Mobile Internet Speed

During 2022, India’s median mobile download speeds hovered below 14 Mbps till October 2022. However, following the launch of India’s first 5G networks, the median mobile internet speeds have soared.

To contextualise the impact of 5G, since its launch in early October, India’s median download speed has improved by 81%. India’s rank has also gone from 113th in October to 69th in January, among 138 countries.

India had Mumbai in the top 100 cities in terms of fastest mobile internet; the Maharashtra capital fell three spots month-on-month (MoM) to reach 76th. Meanwhile, Delhi climbed three spots to reach 89th, of the 171 cities Ookla tracked the metric for.

The rapid rise in mobile internet speeds comes at a time when India is expected to have around 150 Mn 5G subscribers by 2024, according to the India Mobile Broadband Index report by Finnish telecom giant Nokia.

India also is expected to see the cumulative 5G smartphone shipments cross the 100 Mn mark in Q2 2023, surpassing 4G smartphone shipments by the end of 2023. The country saw more than 70 Mn 5G devices shipped in 2022, the report added.

According to the report, the combined 4G and 5G subscriber base in the country will rise to 990 Mn by 2024.

Another report by Deloitte India and CII noted that India’s telecom industry is expected to grow by $12.5 Bn every three years as 5G continues to accelerate economic growth within the country.