Dhanbad beats tech hubs in India for 4G availability

The 4G availability in India is better in tier 2 and tier 3 cities in comparison to metro cities.

Jharkhand's cities Dhanbad and Ranchi are hottest cities for 4G availability in the country, according to an Opensignal report.

Both the cities scored 95.3 per cent and 95 per cent respectively in Opensignal’s measurements, which considered the proportion of time taken by a 4G user to get a network connection, done in 50 cities.

Metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai were placed down on the table with scores 89.7 per cent and 89.8 per cent respectively.

The highest 4G availability measure for a user means they will have a higher chance of getting connected to a network. 4G Availability represents when users have an LTE connection, rather than where, providing a far more accurate reflection of the mobile user experience, added the report.

Srinagar, one of India's remotest cities located in Jammu and Kashmir, was at third place with a score of 94.9%. In fourth place Opensignal report put Raipur, which scored 94.8 per cent in our measurements, followed by Patna with 94.5 per cent.

Bengaluru was placed at 27th place with 92.3 per cent, while Ahmedabad was at a 22nd position with a score of 92.7 per cent. About 12 cities struggled to make it above 90 per cent. However, all of the 50 cities scored over 87% 4G availability, which is an encouraging sign for developing a market like India.

The report is based on data collected for November, December and January.

Airtel was the first operator to launch 4G services in the country. Vodafone followed up with its own 4G network. Soon in September 2017, Jio launched its cheap and accessible 4G services and disrupted the market. Both the operators plan to target over 90 per cent of the total population for the 4G connectivity. State-owned BSNL is also testing its 4G VoLTE network in certain regions.

In a separate report by Opensignal, Jio's national 4G Availability score was outlined to be 96.7 per cent, which more than 20 per cent of its rivals.