Average data speeds for Reliance Jio is double that of Airtel

According to the telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the average data speeds for Reliance Jio is double that of Airtel.

Reliance Jio's average 4G download speed is 18.4 mbps (megabyte per second) while Airtel is at 9.1 mbps.

Soon to be merged together, Vodafone and Idea lag behind with 7.6 mbps and 7 mbps respectively.

In terms of subscriber additions in March 2018, Reliance Jio added more than 94 lakh customers to its base followed by Idea at around 91.42 lakh customers. Airtel was successful in adding some 84 lakh customers, according to telecom subscription data issued by TRAI.

With more than 110 crore mobile phone users in India till December 17, Reliance Jio's yearly net addition was 8.8 crore users as against 2.4 crore additions for Airtel.

For Reliance Jio, its subscriber base growth was 121 per cent, while Airtel's growth rate from 2016 to 2017 was only 9.03 per cent.

Reliance Industries' telecom arm was launched in late 2016 and offered free data and voice services for almost two quarters post its launch.

This created an upheaval in the telecom sector forcing other operators including Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel to roll out lucrative pricing schemes.

Despite making pricing scheme better, one of Airtel's post-paid plan in Delhi NCR priced at Rs 799 gives 60 GB 4G data for a month. However, Reliance Jio gives 140 GB for the same price and 28 days validity.

Though the entry of Reliance Jio has burdened telecom sector with debt and reduced profits, the tariff war between telecom companies is keeping consumers happy as mobile bill payments have reduced despite the increased usage of data and voice.