Airtel beats Jio in 4G downloads speeds during Kumbh Mela 2019

According to new findings by Ookla, Bharti Airtel's mobile data speed was almost double than Reliance Jio during Kumbh Mela (January 14-March 4, 2019).

During the Kumbh Mela, Airtel mean download speed was 15.83 percent as compared to Jio 8.04mbps, while Vodafone recorded 7.61 Mbps download speed and Idea remained the slowest operator with 5.16 Mbps.

Ookla said customers visiting from seven telecom circles (Rajasthan, Madya Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, UP West, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh) showed faster mean download speeds in eastern Uttar Pradesh than local customers. However, the Rajasthan telecom circle showed the fastest mean download speed when "roaming" in UP East at 9.10 Mbps, 9.6 percent faster than the local UP East download speed.

While customers visiting in UP East from 12 telecom circles (Himachal Pradesh, Kolkata, Haryana, Maharashtra and Goa, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, and Mumbai) saw slower mean download speeds than local UP East customers.

The Himachal Pradesh telecom circle showed the slowest mean download speed when "roaming" in UP East at 6.15 Mbps, 25.9 percent slower than the local UP East download speed, the broadband, and mobile data speed testing firm added.

Mobile operators in India use different MCC/MNC codes in different parts of the country, which allows us to differentiate speeds for customers who are "roaming" between telecom circles. In most cases, these telecom circles correspond to states and union territories, but some represent only portions of a state or combinations of multiple states.

Airtel's emphasis on increasing capacity paid off in speed with their mean download speed in the vicinity of the Kumbh Mela coming in 96.9 percent faster than that of second-place Jio. Vodafone was third and Idea a distant fourth.

This year the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj drew over 100 million visitors, and India's largest mobile carriers have rolled out various mobile programs to help pilgrims. We were curious to analyze how well mobile networks held up.