Networks are not able to shoulder the traffic.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Indian mobile network providers are facing criticism for their inability to provide adequate 3G network speeds.
Mobile video is hugely popular in India, a country in which YouTube is listed as the most popular Internet site, but according to a survey by video optimization provider Skyfire, 56% of 3G users in India are complaining about significant problems with their buffering and loading speeds. Eighty-three percent of users have reported at least some problem with the video speeds on their phones. And 99% of users on 2G mobile networks have reported problems viewing videos.
The results of the survey indicate that the Indian mobile broadband networks simply aren’t up to the task of handling the amount of data that they’re obviously meant to. The study showed that 40% of videos watched on mobile phones run at bitrates of under 300 kbps (kilobytes per second), which is a relatively low playback capacity and therefore generally runs with few (if any) problems.
But with the increasing saturation of state-of-the-art smartphones, which almost always come equipped with high-definition displays, users understandably want to watch videos on 720p or 1080p HD. In those cases, the videos can require up to 10 times as much bandwidth as their standard definition counterparts, thus requiring increasingly lengthy buffering times that people are frustrated about having to deal with.
The whole situation, in which a nationwide network isn’t able to shoulder the traffic it’s been receiving due to not having properly tested and made accommodations for it, sounds eerily similar to the Obamacare fiasco plaguing the US at the moment.
The US, however, doesn’t face the problems that India seems to be with regards to its mobile data networks.
The four main providers – Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile – have adopted 4G LTE networks in addition to their standard 3G ones, and are always in competition with each other to prove that they provide the widest coverage. Despite claims of call dropouts and other such phone issues, users in heavily populated metropolitan areas – where most smartphones users are – generally experience reasonable video speeds.
A solution may be forthcoming, however, in India.
Phone giant Vodafone India, a subsidiary of the larger UK Vodafone Group, announced on Tuesday that it will be making an investment of just under 7,100 crore rupees (700 million pounds) over the next 2-3 years in an effort to expand its mobile broadband networks and provide better service to its customers. This investment will be in addition to the 4,000-6,000 crore rupees the company already invests per annum in India.
But Vodafone is just one provider. The other major ones – Airtel, Reliance, Idea, and so on – will need to get on board to effectively combat this problem. Otherwise data usage in India will continue to be a hassle for avid videophiles throughout the country for some time to come.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com