Where does India stand?: Norway ranks first in mobile internet speed

India may have surpassed the mark of 400 million mobile internet users this year, but when it comes to mobile internet speed the country is still way behind the best in the world.

In a latest mobile internet rating, India is placed 109 in speed with 7.65 Mbps. According to data from Ooklas November Speedtest Global Index, Norway ranks first in the world for mobile internet with an average download speed of 62.66 Mbps. Singapore takes the top spot for fixed broadband with a 153.85 Mbps average download.

"Heading into the end of the year, average mobile download speed is 8.80 Mbps as of November. That's a 15 per cent increase," said a statement of the rating company, which analyses the performance of the internet in every country based on consumer-initiated tests taken by real people using Speedtest.

While mobile speeds increased modestly, fixed broadband speeds increased dramatically. Average fixed broadband download speed in January was 12.12 Mbps. As of November, it's at 18.82 Mbps, a close to 50 percent jump.

"India still has a long way to go to catch up with countries that have top speeds around the world, however, we at Ookla are highly optimistic about the capacity for growth that is available in the Indian market and look forward to watching how the market grows in this coming new year," said Doug Suttles, Co-Founder and General Manager at Ookla.

The company took over 17 billion tests with Speedtest till date to observe the market. According to Ookla, along with good infrastrature, the strength and quality of networks is the baseline foundation required for faster speeds. Another key element in growth is competition. When operators compete to provide the fastest speeds and the best plans for consumers, they incentivise each other to offer progressively better options.

Mobile Internet market still evolving

India is still behind China and US in the smartphone market in the world. The average monthly spend on mobile services, voice and data combined, in India in 2016 stood at Rs 349 per person, as per IAMAI report.

However, recent disruptions in the telecom space have given a strong impetus to digital adoption in India. The volume of wireless broadband data consumed by Indians has risen sharply between 200 million GB and 1.3 billion GB a month, as per the Internet Trends Report 2017. This is expected to give huge boost to the Internet economy.

The Internet economy in India is becoming a major contributor to GDP, and is expected to grow to about 7.5% of the country’s GDP by 2020. E-commerce and financial services are projected to lead the growth.