According to Opensignal's latest Fixed Broadband Experience Report for India, Bharti Airtel has emerged as the top performer in home broadband experience, ahead of Reliance Jio and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) across all five key parameters. Airtel recorded an overall Broadband Reliability Experience score of 486 points on Opensignal's scale of 100 to 1,000, significantly higher than Jio's 423 points and BSNL's 419 points. The company also achieved higher download and upload speeds, with average download speed at 38.4 Mbps compared to BSNL's 37.9 Mbps and Jio's 30.5 Mbps. In upload speeds, Airtel recorded 26.7 Mbps, followed by BSNL at 25.9 Mbps and Jio at 21 Mbps. Airtel's advantage was not limited to traditional wired broadband connections, as the company also topped Opensignal's assessment of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services. The independent analytics firm found that Airtel emerged as the outright winner across all five overall experience categories, including Broadband Reliability Experience, Broadband Consistent Quality, Broadband Download Speed Experience, Broadband Upload Speed Experience, and Broadband Video Experience.
India's FWA market has grown alongside 5G network expansion, with 19.3 million FWA subscriptions and 48.6 million wired broadband subscriptions at the end of August 2026, according to TRAI data. Of the FWA subscriptions, 13.5 million were 5G FWA connections, while another 5.4 million used unlicensed-band radio (UBR) technology. The report indicates that around 7 million of the 5G FWA subscriptions were in rural areas, while 6.5 million were in urban areas. FWA subscriptions saw a 2.7% growth in August, outpacing wired broadband's 1.0% growth. Despite faster growth in FWA, wired broadband remains the larger segment, accounting for more than 70% of India's fixed broadband connections. Jio's AirFiber service crossed 14.8 million subscribers at the end of August 2026, followed by Airtel with 11.4 million and BSNL with 4.6 million. By September 2026, India had 13.61 million 5G FWA subscribers, with 7.06 million in rural areas and 6.54 million in urban areas, representing a 51.89% rural share.
In the fixed wireless broadband segment, Airtel secured the top position across all five categories, including download speed, upload speed, reliability, consistent quality and video experience. Airtel's average FWA download speed stood at 32.4 Mbps, compared with Jio's 25.7 Mbps. The company's upload speed was 20.7 Mbps, while Jio recorded 17.1 Mbps. Airtel recorded an FWA Reliability score of 450 points, compared with Jio's 382 points, representing an 18% lead for Airtel. On consistent quality, Airtel scored 66.2%, while Jio recorded 55%, meaning around two-thirds of Airtel's network tests met Opensignal's quality thresholds compared with slightly more than half of Jio's tests. FWA technology uses wireless networks to deliver broadband connectivity to homes, unlike fibre broadband which requires physical cable infrastructure.
The findings indicate that having a larger subscriber base does not necessarily translate into better network experience across all performance measures. Jio continues to lead in FWA subscriber additions, with TRAI data showing the company had 9.4 million of India's 13.5 million 5G FWA subscriptions and accounted for the entire 5.4 million UBR subscriber base. However, Airtel has been increasing its focus on fibre-based broadband connections, adding around 8 million fibre home passes during the 2025-26 financial year through its own network expansion and partnerships with local cable operators. Airtel's strategy is shifting towards using FWA primarily in locations where extending fibre infrastructure is not feasible, influenced by higher churn rates among certain FWA cohorts and increasing equipment costs. Airtel's 5G FWA net additions decreased in Q1 FY27, while Jio's continued strong growth in the segment. The company has indicated it intends to use FWA in areas where fibre connectivity is difficult to provide, which could help manage the cost of wireless equipment and network capacity.
The Indian fixed broadband market extends beyond the three major operators, with several regional internet service providers (ISPs) remaining active through fibre-based broadband services. According to Opensignal, providers such as ACT, Kerala Vision, Excitel, GTPL, Hathway, Alliance, Asianet and Netplus continue competing in different parts of the country. Their presence makes competition more localised, as these companies use partnerships with local cable operators and existing cable infrastructure to extend broadband coverage. As FWA adoption increases and fibre networks continue to expand, competition in India's home broadband market is likely to depend increasingly on the quality and consistency of connections rather than subscriber additions alone. For customers choosing between Airtel and Jio, the Opensignal findings offer another way to compare the two providers beyond monthly recharge prices and advertised internet speeds, though actual performance can vary depending on location, broadband plan, network congestion and technology used.
