Jio Fiber on Top Spot in Netflix ISP Speed Index; BSNL, MTNL Disappoint

Netflix revamped its ISP Speed Index website after several months of inactivity, and it reflects the last six months’ results, with Jio Fiber leading the charts last month. Jio Fiber achieved an average speed of 3.8Mbps in December 2020, with other Internet service providers (ISPs) like 7 Star Digital, Airtel Xstream Fiber, ACT Fibernet and Tata Sky Broadband following suit. Netflix has updated its ISP Speed Index site with a new look. The company says that the index is calculated with a new performance measurement to make it compatible with the changing streaming and encoding landscape.

While Jio Fiber offered an average speed of 3.8Mbps in November and December on the Netflix ISP Speed Index site, the second-in-line 7 Star Digital offered 3.6Mbps average speed in December 2020 and 3.4Mbps average speed in November. Airtel XStream Fiber, Tata Sky Broadband, and ACT Fibernet all offered 3.6Mbps average speed in November and December last year.

The new and improved Netflix ISP Speed Index offers average speed data for the last six months from major ISPs in India. State-run BSNL and MTNL are last on the list with 3Mbps and 2.4Mbps average speeds, respectively, for the month of December. The Netflix data suggests that MTNL did its absolute worst in September with just 1.4Mbps average speed.

Detailing how the new performance measurement works, Netflix said, “The ISP Speed Index is designed to measure which ISPs provide the best prime time Netflix streaming experience. Previously, the way we measured ISP performance meant that two ISPs who deliver the same Megabits per second (Mbps) could still have different quality experiences depending on what device is being used to watch. The new performance measurement accounts for differences across what device(s) and encoding scheme(s) each member is on and which Netflix plan they have. We’re essentially asking – If all things were equal (excluding Cellular traffic), how would ISP speeds compare?”

Can Netflix force Bollywood to reinvent itself? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.