Here are the largest, fastest broadband networks in India as per TRAI

It has only been six months since firebrand telecom entrant Reliance Jio made its debut in the Indian telecom sector and now, after stiff competition from incumbent telecom operators, Jio has managed to steal 40 percent of India’s broadband market. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio is now the largest broadband provider in India, as per a report shared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The TRAI report takes into account both wireless and wired connections. Reliance Jio is currently offering only wireless 4G services, but the company has already begun trials of its fixed Fibre To The Home (FTTH) services. Jio’s FTTH service is tipped to offer 100Mbps speeds and is rumoured to launch in June.

As of now, TRAI reports that Reliance Jio enjoys a 102.84 million strong broadband user base of a total count of 261.31 million broadband subscribers in India. Airtel takes the number Two spot with its wired and wireless broadband services. Airtel accounts for 46.69 million connections and commands a market share of 17.87 percent. Vodafone is the Third largest broadband provider as per the TRAI report, with 32.06 million connections and a market share of 12.27 percent. The Fourth spot goes to Idea Cellular (24.31 million), while state run BSNL (20.1 million) completes the top 5 list of largest broadband providers in India.

Breaking down these numbers further, the TRAI report states that Reliance Jio is also the largest wireless (mobile) broadband provider in the country with its 102.84 million connections. Airtel’s mobile broadband accounts for 44.62 million connections, while Vodafone has 32.05 wireless broadband connections in its kitty. Idea Cellular follows Vodafone with 24.31 wireless connections, while Reliance Communications takes up the Fifth spot with 14.04 million connections. When it comes to wired broadband connections, BSNL tops the charts with 9.95 million connections, followed by Airtel with 2.07 million and ACT Fiber with 1.14 million subscriptions.

Reliance Jio also holds the official title of the fastest network in the country, as per TRAI’s latest figures for March. The average download speed on the operator’s network was 16.48Mbps in March, while in the Second place, Idea Cellular offered 8.33Mbps. In Third place was Bharti Airtel with average speeds of 7.66Mbps.

However, if one looks as internet speeds as per Netflix’s ISP Index for March 2017, Airtel is the fastest network with average streaming speeds of 2.61 Mbps in all categories namely, Fiber, Cable, DSL and Wireless. ACT Fiber comes Second with an average 2.46 Mbps streaming speed and Spectranet ranks Third with 2.39Mbps speeds.

Consumers should know that these numbers will change in the coming months as both Jio and Airtel expand their Fiber networks. Spectranet is also looking at a strategic expansion across its operational states in the country. Stay tuned to Digit for more such updates on broadband networks in India.

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Adamya Sharma

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