During the lockdown, internet usage in India has spiked as many peoples are spending more time on the web. The significant increase in data usage could cause network stability and quality issues. Ookla, the company behind SpeedTest, has been actively monitoring the impact of internet performance during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the report, the fixed broadband mean download speed declined from 39.5 Mbps in February to 35.98 Mbps in March. During the same period, the mean mobile download speed also dropped from 11.83 Mbps in February to 10.15 Mbps in March 2020. The mean fixed broadband speed in India has been declining since the beginning of 2020 – from 41.48 Mbps in January to 35.98 Mbps in March, a drop by 5.5 Mbps.
Doug Suttles, CEO of Ookla said, “When networks are under usage strain like they are in this unprecedented time of lockdown in India due to COVID-19, it is natural that they experience some level of a slowdown.” He added, “It is important to note that while the internet itself should handle elevated usage, there may be impacts to speed as people continue to move their daily activities increasingly online. While the core of the internet remains stable, some ISP networks may struggle to keep up.”
The download speeds of the fixed broadband service increased very slightly between March 2 and March 9, while the mobile download speed remained the same. The mean download speed of fixed broadband fell steeply in India during the third and fourth weeks of March, and the mean download speed over mobile networks decreased as well during that period.
The mean latency over fixed broadband increased when compared to the fourth week of March with the third week of March. During the same period, the mean latency of mobile networks showed a sharp increase. During the week of March 30, the mean download speed on fixed broadband improved.
As of March 2020, the Global Index ranks India 130th for mobile, two spots down compared to February 2020. The country also dropped two spots on fixed broadband and is now ranked 71st globally.
