Lok Sabha Question No. 3501 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-08
Subject: Mobile Internet Download Speed
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: JAYADEV GALLA, CHANDRAKANT BHAURAO KHAIRE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3501 TO BE ANSWERED ON 8 TH   AUGUST, 2018

## MOBILE INTERNET DOWNLOAD SPEED

3501.  SHRI JAYADEV GALLA: SHRI CHANDRAKANT KHAIRE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  country's  average  mobile  internet  download  speed  is  around  9.01 Megabyte Per Second (Mbps) and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  as  per  a  survey,  the  country  ranks  109th  in  terms  of  average  mobile internet download speed and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor along with the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c) the ranks of other developed and developing countries in the said survey; and
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to improve the said mobile internet download speed in the country?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) to (c ) As per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) analytics portal, the details of Telecom Service Providers (TSPs)-wise average mobile internet download speed for 4G technology is enclosed as Annexure. No authentic information is available to the Government on the average mobile internet download speed in other countries.

(d) Internet  speed  depends  on  various  parameters  such  as  technology  deployed, network coverage, number of simultaneous users accessing the internet, connectivity to the website being accessed etc. The speed of mobile internet is further dependent on a number  of  factors  such  as  distance  from  Base  Transceiver  Station  (BTS)  serving  the customer, the number of simultaneous users being served by the BTS, the traffic handled by the BTS etc. As such, the mobile users may experience different speeds at different location and time of usage.

In  order  to  facilitate  improvement  in  Quality  of  Services  and  expansion  of telecommunication  services including mobile internet services, the  Department  of Telecommunications has initiated a series of policy initiatives and development programs as below :-

- (i) making available sufficient spectrum for mobile services including auction of 965  MHz  across  different  bands  (700,  800,  900,  1800,  2100,  2300  and 2500 MHz bands) in 2016.
- (ii) allowing  Spectrum  Sharing,  Trading  and  liberalisation  of  administratively allocated spectrum as per guidelines.
- (iii) permitting sharing of active as well as passive infrastructure by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for achieving higher utilisation efficiency.
- (iv) permitting  Internet  Protocol  (IP)  based  interconnections  between  TSPs  in addition to the prevailing arrangements.
- (v) notification  of  Indian  Telegraph  Right  of  Way  Rules,  2016  in  November 2016  for  regulating  underground  infrastructure  (optical  fibre)  and  overground infrastructure (mobile towers).
- (vi) periodic review of expansion of mobile networks and related improvements carried out by TSPs.

A  total  of  798,054  additional  BTS  have  been  installed  by  Telecom  Service Providers (TSPs) in the Country from July 2015 to June, 2018.

As on 1 st  July 2018, About 18.33 lakh BTS have been installed in the country.

Network  upgradation  and  improvement  is  an  ongoing  process  for  each  TSP, based on changing traffic volumes, customer needs and market competition.

ANNEXURE TELECOM SERVICE PROVIDER -WISE AVERAGE MOBILE INTERNET DOWNLOAD SPEED ON 4G TECHNOLOGY FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE'2018

| Name of 4G Telecom Service Provider   |   Average Download 4G Speed (in Mbps) |
|---------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| M/s. Reliance Jio                     |                                  18.6 |
| M/s. Airtel                           |                                   9.2 |
| M/s. Vodafone                         |                                   7.2 |
| M/s. Idea                             |                                   6.8 |

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