The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its independent drive test (IDT) findings for the Kottayam, Kerala licensed service area (LSA), covering extensive city/railway/coastal routes during the month of February 2025. The drive tests, conducted under the supervision of the TRAI regional office, Bengaluru, were designed to capture real-world mobile network performance across diverse usage environments including urban zones, institutional hotspots, public transport hubs, and high-speed corridors.
Between February 10, 2026 to February 13, 2026, TRAI teams conducted detailed tests across 503.9 kilometres (kms) of Kottayam including 306 kms of city drive, 10 hot spots, 9.2 kms walk test, coastal drive of 12.4 kms, and highway drive of 176.3 kms. Technologies evaluated included 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G, reflecting the service experience of users across multiple handset capabilities.
Key parameters assessed include call setup success rate, drop call rate, call setup time, call silence rate, speech quality, coverage, download/upload throughput, latency, jitter, packet drop rate, and video streaming delay.
As per the tests, Bharti Airtel, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) had 99.84 per cent, 89.02 per cent, 100.00 per cent and 98.92 per cent call setup success rate while a drop call rate of 0.16 per cent, 7.53 per cent, 0.31 per cent and 0.47 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G).
In the city IDT route in case of Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi, the poor signal strength in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G) has been observed during voice testing (1.54 per cent, 8.54 per cent, 1.29 per cent and 3.38 per cent respectively) and data testing (17.63 per cent, 13.37 per cent, 10.84 per cent and 8.54 per cent respectively).
Further, in the highway IDT route in case of Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi, the poor signal strength in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G) has been observed during voice testing (0.56 per cent, 7.80 per cent, 0.19 per cent and 0.78 per cent respectively) and data testing (7.06 per cent, 6.08 per cent, 2.96 per cent and 4.42 per cent respectively).
Furthermore, in the coastal IDT route in case of Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi, the poor signal strength in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G) has been observed during voice testing (20.70 per cent, 6.23 per cent, 10.83 per cent and 12.43 per cent respectively) and data testing (61.16 per cent, 23.14 per cent, 54.89 per cent and 13.80 per cent respectively).
In Kottayam, the assessment included neighbourhoods like Nattakom, Puthuppally, Meenadom, Pampady, Manarcadu, Ayarkunnam, Kezhuvamkulam, Paika, Poovarani, Kadappattoor, Kidangoor, Ettumanoor, Kothanalloor, Kallara, Neendoor and Kumarakon etc.
TRAI also evaluated real-world conditions at District Collectorate Kottayam, Government Medical College Hospital Kottayam, Kottayam General Hospital, Kottayam Main Bazaar, Kottayam Railway Station, KSRTC Bus Stand Kottayam, Lulu Mall Kottayam, Municipal Jubilee Nehru Park, Nehru Stadium Kottayam, and Thirunakkara Temple Kottayam.
The walk tests, conducted on February 11-12, 2026 focused on District Collectorate Kottayam, Kottayam Railway Station to Nagampadam Bus Stand, Nehru Stadium Junction, and Thirunakkara Temple to Thirunakkara Market to Railway Station Road capturing mobile network behaviour in crowded pedestrian environments.
The Highway drive test was carried out Kottayam to Kochi passing through Thiruvalla, Kayamkulam, Alappuzha, Cherthala and Aluva etc. The Coastal drive test route covered Cheepunkal, Green Island, Cheepunkal Sun Set viewpoint, Kumarakon Bird Sanctuary Breezy Shore, Thollayiram Bridge, and Cheepunkal to understand quality of service along the route.
