Jio GigaFiber ranks first in Netflix monthly ISP data, beats Airtel, Spectranet

Jio GigaFiber has become the fastest broadband service provider in the country, according to a data released by Netflix monthly ISP speed index for February 2019.

As per the data, Jio GigaFiber has managed to achieve 3.61Mbps speed during the same month. On the other hand, 7-star digital achieved the second position with a speed of 3.43Mbps while Spectranet has retained the third place with an average speed of 3.34Mbps and Airtel posted a speed of 3.29Mbps in February.

Meanwhile, there are many reports which claim that Jio GigaFiber has launched Triple Play Plan for its employees in which the company is providing unlimited calling and broadband data benefits.

For those who are not aware, Netflix ranks performances of ISPs across the globe for their 'Prime Time Netflix performance' and in India, the ratings for ISPs in India were first in the month of May 16.

In fact a new report by ICRA also pointed out that almost all telcos have hived off or looking to hive off their fibre assets to separate entities with a view to monetize their fibre investments and use the funds to deleverage their balance sheets because separate fibre companies are expected to be financially stronger and can incur capex and raise funds of tenors which match their returns. Sharing of fibre among multiple telcos, which would evolve like the sharing of telecom towers, would be the key driver of a reasonable return on capital.

ICRA notes that telcos are taking a cue from the divestment of tower assets and their eventual emergence as an independent industry, the fibre assets are also being hived off to separate entities. Some of the transactions which have already been initiated are - spinning off of the fibre assets by Bharti, Vodafone Idea and plans of spinning off by RJio and BSNL and possible sharing of fibre assets by Bharti and Vodafone-Idea. This would free up capital for telcos.

As per ICRA estimates, the market value of the fibre assets owned by the major private telcos is around Rs. 120,000 crores and thus even small quantum of stake sold can generate sufficient funds to improve the liquidity position of the telcos.

As of now, India has a fibre network of around 100 million fibre km, which significantly lags the requirements. The players with sizeable fibre network include BSNL, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, etc.

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