India trails Pakistan in 4G download speed, report says

India is one of the largest markets in the world for smartphones. It also has access to the one of the cheapest data rates around the globe.

The findings also come at a time when operators worldwide compete to roll out the fastest internet service there could be - 5G.

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India came second to Pakistan in terms of mean download speed over a mobile phone in the July to September period of 2020.

Pakistan showed nearly 40% faster mobile download speed than India last quarter, according to Internet access analytics firm Ookla.

In terms of mean upload speed, India stood last among the South Asian countries at nearly 4 Mbps. Bangladesh stood third for download speed and second for upload speed.

Both India and Pakistan showed a growth in internet download speeds over the year, with India growing by nearly 12% compared with the same period last year. Pakistan's download speed grew 24% this quarter compared with last year.

In terms of 4G LTE performance, Pakistan outperformed India with its mean download speed over 4G being 51% faster than India's.

India's mobile data speeds is said to be one of the slowest in the world, trailing Pakistan, Nepal, South Korea and Sri Lanka, according to Ookla's Speedtest Global Index. Ookla ranked 138 countries based on internet speeds and India ranked 131st.

India is one of the largest markets in the world for smartphones. It also has access to the one of the cheapest data rates around the globe. The findings also come at a time when operators worldwide compete to roll out the fastest internet service there could be - 5G.