5G users in India are experiencing super-fast speeds compared to what 4G users are getting. 5G has already reached multiple cities, and millions of users have already experienced it as well. However, it has been a short period since 5G was launched commercially by Airtel. Reliance Jio is doing a beta test and is only allowing select users in the country to experience its 5G networks. Opensignal, a network intelligence and insights firm, has shared the data for how the 5G experience was like for users in India between October 1 to October 30, 2022 period.
5G vs 4G Speed in India: 5G Turns Out to be Multiple Times Faster than 4G
According to Opensignal, Indian users on 5G networks saw a massive uplift in their mobile experience. It turns out that 5G users got 16.5 times faster speeds on their mobile on average than 4G users. 5G users, on average, received a download speed of 242.1 Mbps, while the 4G users got 14.7 Mbps speeds. Talking about the peak 5G and 4G download speeds, 5G was 11.6 times faster, with a peak download speed of 690.6 Mbps compared to 4G’s 59.5 Mbps. Even in the upload speeds department, 5G was much ahead of 4G. The data published in the report suggests that the average 5G upload speed (21.2 Mbps) was 5.4 times faster than the average 4G upload speed (3.9 Mbps). Upload speeds are also very crucial to the experience of the user when he/she is engaging in a social media platform sharing content with others.
5G Cities in India
Airtel has launched 5G in 12 cities of India - Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Delhi, Guwahati, Patna, Nagpur, Panipat, Varanasi, and Gurugram. Pune’s airport also had 5G available, but now it has been temporarily paused due to an order from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Jio’s 5G beta is available in the following cities - Mumbai, Varanasi, Delhi-NCR region, Gujarat (33 district headquarters), Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, and Nathdwara (5G Wi-Fi). The telcos are planning to reach more urban cities with their 5G network services in the coming weeks and months. Airtel has deployed 5G NSA (non-standalone), while Jio has deployed 5G SA (standalone). Airtel users can use 5G if they own a 5G-enabled device and a 4G SIM of Airtel with an active plan. The users need to be under the 5G coverage of Airtel to use 5G. Jio users, on the other hand, can only use 5G if they are invited by the company. But Jio’s beta also offers unlimited data to the customers at no extra cost.
