New entrant in the 4G market, Reliance Jio, is providing internet speeds slower than that offered by Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone and Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications, data published on TRAI’s website said.
The data listed 4G speed of Airtel at 11.4 mbps, Idea’s at 7.6 mbps, Vodafone’s at 7.3 mbps and RCom’s at 7.9 mbps.
The speed of Mukesh Ambani’s Jio, which is a 4G-only network, was recorded at 6.2 mbps, it said.
The company, however, countered TRAI’s claim in a statement saying that the speed was measured after consumers exhaust the daily fair usage policy (FUP) limit of 4GB data download per user.
“With reference to statistics published on Trai’s analytics website, we have performed an internal analysis of the same. Based on this analysis, we believe that the comparison of Jio speeds with other operators has an inherent bias against Jio data usage,” the statement said.
Once a consumer exhausts the FUP limit, speed falls to 256 kbps.
Stating that Jio customers are enjoying full 4G speed, it added, “Historically, we have observed that a disproportionate number of speed tests are performed once the FUP comes into effect. This is because most users don’t consider performing the test until they observe a deterioration of speed.”
Jio had in September created a storm in the industry by announcing free data and voice calls till December 31. The company had also said that it will never charge customers for voice calls and will offer 1GB data for Rs 50.
Jio has claimed that it is adding anywhere between 0.6 million (6 lakh) and 1.1 million (11lakh) customers a day. The company has already created history by adding 16 million (1.6 crore) customers within a month of its commercial launch.
The firm is targeting 100 million (10 crore) customers in a year.
