While 400 per cent growth looks great on paper, in reality, India lags far behind global standards. For starters, Bangladesh offers minimum speeds of up to 5 Mbps.
Broadband India Forum (BIF) lauded the government’s decision to increase the minimum broadband speed, but stressed that it is insufficient for a ‘mobile first’ country. India is a “mobile first” country, which means that almost everyone who has access to broadband does so through their mobile phone.
BIF says this is a huge improvement, but there is still a long way to go. The forum, however, said that the speed of 2 Mbps will improve the services and experience of the people. The federation also regretted that 4G services are not available in 45,180 villages of the country.
broadband speed in india
Broadband Industry Forum (BIF) President TV Ramachandran said that 2Mbps may not be fast enough for today’s broadband world. People will need much faster speeds for applications such as telecommunications, file downloading, video conferencing and streaming video (both SD and HD), he added. He said he is confident that the large gap between those who have decent internet access and those who do not will begin to close due to recent actions by the government.
According to connectivity insights company Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index rankings January 2023, India has moved up two places to rank 79th in the average broadband speed test category, up from 81st ranking in December last year. For context, India’s average broadband speed was 50.02 Mbps, up from 49.14 Mbps in December. In the fixed broadband category, India was ranked 81st in November last year.
