India’s fixed broadband fast for SAARC countries but Indian mobile speed lags: Ookla Q4 2020 report

Ookla yesterday released its Q4 2020 report looking closely at India’s improvement compared to other countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Ookla’s findings note that India’s fixed broadband is fast for SAARC countries but despite increases Indian mobile speed continues to lag among SAARC countries. Ookla also compared the internet speed performance of India’s top internet providers with data on consumer sentiment.

India’s fixed broadband fast for SAARC countries

Ookla notes that India started 2020 with the fastest mean download speed over fixed broadband among SAARC countries and saw strong improvements in India from Q2 2020 onward only widened the gap. India’s mean download speeds a little over 50 Mbps was followed by Bangladesh at second place by the end of the year after a jump in fixed broadband speed.

Sri Lanka put in third place behind Bangladesh with a decline in fixed broadband speeds seeing it surrender the second position to Bangladesh. Afghanistan had the lowest mean download speed over fixed broadband among SAARC countries during 2020. Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, and Pakistan stood on the leaderboard between third-placed Sri Lanka and bottom-placed Afghanistan.

Indian mobile speeds lag among SAARC countries

Ookla notes that India’s mobile speed continued to lag among SAARC countries with Maldives the only SAARC country with active 5G in 2020 which accounted for the highest download speed over mobile throughput in 2020. Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan were very closely grouped for second, third, fourth, and fifth fastest mean download speed over mobile among SAARC countries throughout 2020.

Bangladesh was second slowest and India third slowest as per Ookla with Afghanistan the slowest in terms of mean download speed over mobile throughput in 2020.

Ookla further notes that India has at least one location along with Pakistan and Sri Lanka where 5G is available in pre-release mode.

Ookla notes that pre-release deployments are places wherein 5G hardware is in place but currently in testing and not yet accessible to customers. India currently has two 5G pre-release sites with Bharti Airtel having its 5G site in Hyderabad and Reliance Jio having its 5G site in Mumbai.