The latest Opensignal report has compared Indian smartphone users’ mobile data consumption and their Download Speed.

The analysis shows that the variation in mobile data consumption during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India inversely correlated with users’ Download Speed.

During the first lockdown in March 2020, Indian smartphone users’ average mobile data consumption increase drastically, along with significant drops in users’ average Download Speed.

Users did not observe a substantial change in their mobile data download speed during the second part of the COVID-19 pandemic starting March 2021 onwards. This highlights that the Indian mobile experience has been remarkably resilient during the second wave despite increased demand for mobile data.

Opensignal measured our smartphone users’ weekly average mobile data consumption and Download Speed Experience from the week starting on December 30, 2019, to the week ending on May 2, 2021.

In India, smartphone users consumed a similar amount of mobile data throughout the initial weeks of 2020, and their mobile speeds did not change significantly.

There was a sharp increase in the mobile data consumed by smartphone users on a weekly basis — 26.8 percent to 30.1 percent higher than at the beginning of 2020.

The increased mobile data consumption lasted for six weeks between the last weeks of March 2020 and May 2020, before it gradually decreased towards pre-lockdown levels. Users saw significant declines in their average download speeds — up to 24.8 percent, compared to the first week of 2020.

In the last three weeks of April 2021, data consumption had increased between 19.9 percent and 22.7 percent. “However, this time we saw little change in the average download speed experience, showing that mobile operators prepared their networks to cope with the increased data demand by their users due to the latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Opensignal said.