The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has conducted Independent Drive Tests (IDT) in nine cities and highway corridors covering in seven licensed service areas (LSAs) that fall under Palakkad, Varanasi, Delhi (City and Highway), Cuttack, Jodhpur, Patna, Gangtok and Pakyong with surrounding districts. Drive tests were conducted to assess the quality of (like 2G/ 3G/ 4G/ 5G) for voice and data service provided by cellular mobile telephone service providers – Bharti Airtel Limited, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Vodafone Idea Limited, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)/ Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) – for voice and data services in April 2025. The observations presented in drive test reports represent the performance of the service providers on the area/ route under test on the day/time of conducting the drive test.
The key performance indicators (KPIs) for voice as well as data service assessed for the networks of all telecom service providers operating in the region included call setup success rate, drop call rate, speech quality using mean opinion score (MOS), downlink and uplink packet (voice) drop rate, call silence rate and coverage-signal strength, under voice services. Meanwhile, data throughput (downlink and uplink both), packet drop rate (downlink and uplink), video streaming delay, latency and jitter, under data services were considered.
In Palakkad City- Kerala LSA, Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had call setup success rate of 100per cent, 89.25 per cent, 99.81 per cent and 100per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had call setup time of 1.22, 2.77, 0.60 and 0.80 seconds respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had drop call rate of 0per cent, 0.63 per cent, 0 per cent and 0 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had silence call rate 0.58 per cent, 1.24 per cent, 1.15 per cent and 0.88 per cent respectively in packet switched network (5G/4G). The telcos had average MOS score of 4.01, 2.99, 3.91 and 4.51 respectively. Meanwhile, the average download speed of Airtel (5G/4G/2G) was 179.15 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G/2G) was 8.25 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 249.54 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 25.50 Mbps. The average upload speed of Airtel (5G/4G/2G) is 24.19 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G/2G) was 6.01 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 19.18 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 12.31 Mbps.
In Varanasi City- UP East LSA, Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had call setup success rates of 99.46 per cent, 98.14 per cent, 100 per cent and 100 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). The companies had call setup times of 21.69, 4.16, 0.65 and 0.66 seconds respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). They had drop call rate of 0 per cent, 0.95 per cent, 0.16 per cent and 0 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Their silence call rates were 0.24 per cent, 0 per cent and 1.22 per cent respectively in packet switched network (4G/5G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had average MOS Score of 4.01, 2.39, 3.92 and 4.33 respectively. Further, average download speed of Airtel (5G/4G) was 130.81 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G/2G) was 5.05 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 231.35 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 46.45 Mbps. The average upload speed of Airtel (5G/4G) was 22.30 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G/2G) was 4.11 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 34.28 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 13.87 Mbps.
In Delhi city and Noida to Aligarh Highway Route – Delhi LSA, Airtel, MTNL, Jio and Vi had call setup success rates of 100 per cent, 83.13 per cent, 100 per cent and 100 per cent and respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, MTNL, Jio and Vi had call setup times of 0.77, 3.17, 0.63 and 0.61 seconds respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, MTNL, Jio and Vi had drop call rates of 0.11 per cent, 6.12 per cent, 0.22 per cent and 0 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, Jio and Vi had silence call rates of 0.60 per cent, 1.22 per cent and 3.29 per cent respectively in packet switched network (5G/4G). Airtel, MTNL, Jio and Vi had average MOS of 4.01, 2.63, 3.85 and 4.29 respectively. Furthermore, average download speed of Airtel (5G/4G) was 181.73 Mbps, MTNL (3G/2G) was 1.29 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 227.84 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 22.14 Mbps. The average upload speed of Airtel (5G/4G) was 18.25 Mbps, MTNL (3G/2G) was 0.90 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 19.11 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 5.38 Mbps.
In Cuttack City – Odisha LSA, Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had call setup success rates of 100 per cent, 78.24 per cent, 100 per cent and 100 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had call setup times of 0.54, 2.12, 0.73 and 0.66 seconds respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had drop call rates of 0 per cent, 0.32 per cent, 0 per cent and 0 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had silence call rated of 0.32 per cent, 3.75 per cent, 0 per cent and 0.33 per cent respectively in packet switched network (4G/5G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had average MOS scores of 4.00, 3.32, 3.92 and 4.57 respectively. Moreover, the average download speed of Airtel (5G/4G) was 127.86 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G) was 5.32 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 233.46 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 20.96 Mbps. Average upload speed of Airtel (5G/4G) was 28.80 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G) was 4.77 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 24.04 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 15.44 Mbps.
In Jodhpur City- Rajasthan LSA, Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had call setup success rates of 99.14 per cent, 99.28 per cent, 100 per cent, and 98.88 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). The telcos had call setup times of 2.19, 3.12, 0.69 and 1.34 seconds respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). They had drop call rates of 0 per cent, 2.18 per cent 0 per cent and 0 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, Jio and Vi had silence call rates of 0.56 per cent, 0 per cent and 0.72 per cent respectively in packet switched network (4G/5G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had average MOS Score of 4.04, 2.49, 3.99 and 4.62 respectively. In addition, average download speed of Airtel (5G/4G) was 120.43 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G) was 6.34 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) is 274.97 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 39.60 Mbps. Average upload speed of Airtel (5G/4G) was 26.05 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G) was 4.57 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 41.02 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 13.86 Mbps.
In Patna city and Bihar Sharif, Sheikhpura, Munger and Jamui district – Bihar and Jharkhand LSA, Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had call setup success rates of 99.27 per cent, 90.74 per cent, 99.86 per cent and 64.44 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had call setup times of 1.77, 2.88, 0.71 and 2.20 seconds respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had drop call rates of 0 per cent, 6.63 per cent, 0.14 per cent and 1.43 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, Jio and Vi had silence call rates of 0.84 per cent, 0.42 per cent and 6.22 per cent respectively in packet switched network (4G/5G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had average MOS scores of 4.04, 3.06, 3.96 and 4.46 respectively. Meanwhile, the average download speed of Airtel (5G/4G/2G) was 98.64 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G/2G) is 1.71 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 186.29 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 27.34 Mbps. The average upload speed of Airtel (5G/4G/2G) was 34.68 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G/2G) was 2.35 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 28.27 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 12.58 Mbps.
In Gangtok city and Pakyong Districts areas – West Bengal LSA, Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had call setup success rates of 77.11 per cent, 51.93 per cent, 87.33 per cent and 94.29 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had call setup times of 2.59, 5.59, 1.08 and 1.63 seconds respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi have drop call rates of 0 per cent, 5.45 per cent, 1.53 per cent and 0 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had silence call rates of 11.86 per cent, 5.79 per cent, 7.88 per cent and 16.88 per cent respectively in packet switched network (4G/5G). Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi had average MOS scores of 3.63, 3.26, 3.64 and 3.84 respectively. Further, the average download speed of Airtel (5G/4G/2G) was 36.64 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G/2G) was 1.22 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 74.94 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 11.95 Mbps. The average upload speed of Airtel (5G/4G/2G) was 9.79 Mbps, BSNL (4G/3G/2G) was 2.42 Mbps, Jio (5G/4G) was 8.93 Mbps and Vi (4G/2G) was 9.54 Mbps.
