Study shows Indian networks not ready for video boom

56 per cent of video consumers on India's 3G networks suffer from significant stalling and re-buffering.

Video is the next big thing in mobile technology. But it seems India’s mobile infrastructure is not really up to the task.

Tests by Skyfire,a cloud-based mobile video-optimization company owned by Opera Software,has shown that 56 per cent of video consumers on Indias 3G networks suffer from significant stalling and re-buffering leading to high abandonment rates. Overall,83 per cent of 3G users experience some stalling while trying to watch video.

Skyfire combined its global data on mobile video network loads with extensive bandwidth test data from wireless network authority OpenSignal,using recent data from 2013 on Indias networks. The data shows that on Indias 3G networks,40 per cent of all video streams ran at bitrates of less than 300 kbps,a very low speed for video playback on mobile devices. Compare that with auto-play videos within Vine and Instagram which use bitrates of between 900 and 1300 kbps. Now you know why those vines take a few seconds to load on your phone.

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As expected 2G users were worse off with almost everyone (99%) experiencing some stalling.

With video consumption clearly skyrocketing and causing such experience-impacting congestion in India,the countrys operators should implement cost-effective and quick-to-market solutions to enhance the end-user mobile video streaming experience, Sunil Kamath,Vice President for South Asia,Opera Software,said in a release.

According to Ciscos 2013 Visual Networking Index,mobile data traffic in India is projected to reach a whopping 900 petabytes per month by 2017,with 60 per cent of that data coming from mobile video alone.

Video is already big in India with YouTube listed as Indias most popular video site. According to YouTube,30 per cent of its traffic in India comes from mobile.