Gadgets
Mobile Internet Download Speeds Grew 47 Percent in India in a Year: Ookla
The June data available on the Speedtest Global Index shows that India moved up six positions to number 122 and three points to 70 on mobile and fixed broadband download speeds, respectively. Ookla said that the country moved up the global ranking index for the third time in a row for mobile Internet speeds and has shown consistent improvements in overall mobile download speed over the last two months.
Mobile Internet speeds in June
According to the Speedtest data released by Ookla, the 17.84Mbps average mobile download speed in the country made for an annual increase of 46.71 percent from 12.16Mbps in June 2020. The average mobile upload speed in the country also increased 18.85 percent to 5.17Mbps in June 2021 from 4.35Mbps in the same month last year. It grew 2.38 percent from 5.05Mbps in May.
| Average download speed in June (in Mbps) | Average download speed in May (in Mbps) | Average download speed in June 2020 (in Mbps) | Increase in download speed from last month | Increase in download speed from last year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17.84 | 15.34 | 12.16 | 16.30% | 46.71% |
In addition to mobile download and upload speed, the average latency rate in the country on mobile networks dipped to 48 milliseconds in June from 50 milliseconds in May. The average jitter rate also dropped five milliseconds from 48 milliseconds in May to 43 milliseconds in June.
| Average upload speed in June (in Mbps) | Average upload speed in May (in Mbps) | Average upload speed in June 2020 (in Mbps) | Increase in upload speed from last month | Increase in upload speed from last year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.17 | 5.05 | 4.35 | 2.38% | 18.85% |
Globally, the Speedtest Global Index by Ookla shows that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continued to maintain its lead with an average mobile download speed of 193.51Mbps, followed by South Korea at 180.48Mbps. Oman recorded the highest gain of 26 places in the subcontinent when it comes to mobile Internet speed in comparison with the last month’s records. The southeastern coastal country reached 15th spot in the global ranking.
Fixed broadband speeds in June
On the part of fixed broadband, the June Speedtest data shows that the 58.17Mbps average download speed in India in June 2021 meant a 52.32 percent increase from the 38.19Mbps speed reported for June 2020.
| Average download speed in June (in Mbps) | Average download speed in May (in Mbps) | Average download speed in June 2020 (in Mbps) | Increase in download speed from last month | Increase in download speed from last year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58.17 | 55.65 | 38.19 | 4.53% | 52.32% |
The average fixed broadband upload speed in the country, on the other hand, reached 54.43Mbps in June 2021, up 59.06 percent from 34.22Mbps in the same month last year. It also saw a 3.97 percent increase from 52.35Mbps in May. The average latency rate on fixed broadband in the country, however, increased by a millisecond to 17 milliseconds in June, as per the data provided by Ookla.
| Average upload speed in June (in Mbps) | Average upload speed in May (in Mbps) | Average upload speed in June 2020 (in Mbps) | Increase in upload speed from last month | Increase in upload speed from last year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54.43 | 52.35 | 34.22 | 3.97% | 59.06% |
Monaco emerged as the top country in terms of fixed broadband speeds with an average download speed of 260.74Mbps in June. The France-bordered country was followed by Singapore and Hong Kong that dropped to the second and third positions on the global fixed broadband index.
“At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games,” Haiyan Zhang, GM, Xbox Gaming AI, said in a blog post. “This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.”
The aforementioned AI design copilot is a toolset that will help game designers turn prompts into scripts and dialogue trees. In contrast, the character runtime will enable dynamically generated plot beats and quests. We’ve already seen heavy AI integration in games by way of procedural generation — a more recent example being the 1000+ planets in Starfield. Not to mention, enemy AI has been around for way longer.
Inworld made headlines in August when it launched a modded story mode for Grand Theft Auto V, Sentient Streets, in which players had to investigate the rise of a bizarre AI-worshipping cult — a segment loaded with characters that spoke in AI-generated dialogue, on the fly. The mod was later taken down by publisher Take-Two, leaving a permanent strike on the creator Bloc’s YouTube channel. As per The Verge, Inworld’s AI technology can also be used for narration in top-down RPGs to warn players about any events awaiting off-screen and respond to questions like we’ve seen in the past year with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Microsoft has also been heavily banking on artificial intelligence, having made a $10 billion (about Rs. 83,254 crore) investment in OpenAI. The company has also integrated AI tools into its popular suite of services and also added an AI copilot to Windows.
Despite being a Microsoft-affiliated AI toolset, it would be interesting to see whether titles using them will be allowed to thrive on other platforms. In July, Valve claimed that it would be cracking down on games that included AI-generated assets if the developer didn’t own the copyright to the piece of art. For the uninitiated, when you insert a prompt to create something in AI, the software simply repurposes existing assets found online and mushes them together — basically stealing from other artists and writers without appropriate commercial licenses. Infringing them would lead to the game not being distributed on Steam, forcing the developers to seek proper licenses for the asset by reaching out to the AI companies involved. It’s unclear how Microsoft’s partnership will play out — as long as AI content is being used as a catalyst to innovate and create something new, it should be fine.
In a post on X shared by BSNL’s Andhra Pradesh (@bsnl_ap_circle) unit, the company confirmed that BSNL users can upgrade their older 2G or 3G SIMs to a 4G SIM for free. Not only will the upgrade be free, but a promotional image shared with the post suggests that users who opt for the upgrade will also receive 4GB of free data that will be valid for three months. It is speculated that BSNL is aiming to boost its upcoming 4G services with this offer. The announcement was first spotted by Telecom Talk.
To access the free data offer and the free upgrade, BSNL users are requested to get in touch with executives at BSNL’s Customer Service Centre, franchisee or retailer stores, or contact one of their Direct Selling Agents (DSA). The promo image also adds in a finer print that the offer is available with certain terms and conditions, but hasn’t detailed any, so far.
Reliance’s Jio recently launched the 4G-supported Bharat B1 feature phone in India. The handset is priced at Rs. 1,299 in India. Alongside 4G connectivity, the phone comes with JioCinema and JioSaavn applications pre-installed.
The Jio Bharat B1 is equipped with the JioPay application, which is said to allow users to make UPI payments. Aiming to increase accessibility, the phone supports 23 languages overall, including multiple regional languages.
Realme, via Weibo, announced the arrival of the Realme GT 5 Pro in China. The display of the handset is confirmed to offer 3000 nits peak brightness. It has also been teased to offer heat dissipation with a surface area of around 10,000mm2. It is confirmed to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The post doesn’t specify the exact launch date of the smartphone, however, given the release of the teasers, the launch could be just around the corner.
The Realme GT 5 Pro has been in the news a lot lately. It is expected to feature a 6.78-inch (1,264×2,780 pixels) AMOLED display and is tipped to come in 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB RAM options along with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB inbuilt storage options.
For optics, the Realme GT 5 Pro is said to have a triple rear camera unit comprising two 50-megapixel sensors and an 8-megapixel shooter at the rear. The camera setup might include a Sony LYTIA LYT808 sensor, an OmniVision OV08D10 secondary sensor, and a Sony IMX890 telephoto sensor. For selfies, there could be a 32-megapixel sensor at the front. It is said to carry a 5,400mAh battery with support for 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
The Realme GT 5 Pro is expected to come with upgrades over Realme GT 5. The latter was launched in China in August with a price tag of CNY 2,999 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
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