A report from the telecommunications analysis firm OpenSignal, released a week ahead of the 2023 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup, highlights that Reliance Jio's network download speeds at the stadiums significantly outperform those of Airtel and Vodafone Idea.
Reliance Jio achieves an average download speed of 61.7 Mbps within the stadiums, with an impressive 5G download speed of 334.5 Mbps, marking a substantial 25.5% faster performance than Airtel's 5G speed of 274.5 Mbps, according to the report.
Regarding network-upload speeds in stadium settings, Airtel leads the way. However, Vodafone Idea is expected to deliver superior performance for over-the-top (OTT) voice services, including popular mobile voice apps like WhatsApp, Skype, and Facebook Messenger. Notably, Airtel excels in providing the best experience with voice apps on 5G networks.
The report indicates that Airtel achieves average overall upload speeds of 6.6 Mbps and 5G upload speeds of 26.3 Mbps. These overall upload speeds on Airtel's network surpass those of Jio by 5.2%, Vodafone Idea by 13%, and BSNL by a significant 6.1 times. In the 5G realm, Airtel's average upload speeds are 21.7% faster than Jio's.
The report emphasizes that fast download and upload speeds are valuable only when users can connect to an active cellular signal. In this context, Jio stands out by offering the highest mobile network availability and 5G availability at the stadiums, with Jio 5G users spending over 50% of their time with an active 5G signal, which is 2.6 times more than Airtel users.
Regarding the voice app experience, Vodafone Idea leads with a score of 78.7, surpassing Airtel by half a point and Jio by 1.2 points. The report classifies Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea as falling within the "acceptable" range (74-80) for voice app experience, while BSNL scores 70.8 points, categorizing it as "poor," one rating lower than its competitors.
OpenSignal also assessed the quality of live video streaming for users intending to watch cricket matches on their mobile devices. Airtel dominates the operator landscape in most of the 40 cities surveyed, either individually or in conjunction with other operators, in 23 cities. Jio leads in 22 cities, and Vodafone Idea is the top operator in 15 cities.
The report underscores that any operator offering the best live video experience gains a significant competitive advantage, particularly in a cricket-loving country like India.
The ICC World Cup 2023 is scheduled to commence on October 5, hosted in India and spanning across 10 stadiums in the country.
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