Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has assessed mobile network quality across Gorakhnath, Jhungiya, Ratanpur, Pipraich, Rampur Buzurg, Bhathat, Mangalpur, Delhi Public School, Gorakhpur, Govindpur, Kaalesar, Belghat, Madapar, Gorakhpur Airport, Taramandal, Ramjanki Nagar and Shahpur in Gorakhpur city and nearby areas.

The TRAI has released findings of independent drive test (IDT) conducted across Gorakhpur city and Lucknow to Gorakhpur Railway route under UPE licensed service area (LSA), during the month of May 2026, for information of general telecom consumers. The purpose of this drive test is to assess and verify real time quality of mobile network services (both voice and data) provided by telecom service providers (TSPs). During the IDT, TRAI captures performance of TSPs for key quality of service (QoS) parameters like coverage, call drop rate, call setup success rate, data download and upload throughput etc., which are then published to inform consumers and encourage TSPs to improve their services.

These IDTs have been designed to capture on ground mobile network performance of all TSPs across diverse usage environments like cities, hotspots, public transport hubs, etc. In this type of drive testing, live data and voice sessions are established using SIM cards from all TSPs over 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks. Multiple advanced test handsets are used, and the sessions are monitored and analysed in real-time using advanced software systems.

TRAI, through its appointed agency, conducted drive tests across city drive – 342.1 Kms, hotspot locations – 11, walk test – 3.7 Kms and railway – 296.3 Kms in Gorakhpur city and Lucknow to Gorakhpur Railway route during May 4, 2026 to May 8, 2026 in UPE LSA. These tests were conducted under the supervision of the TRAI regional office Bhopal. The observations presented in drive test reports represent the performance of the TSPs on the area/ route under test on the day/ time of conducting the drive test.

The signal strength observed during voice testing on the drive test route in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G), measured as the number of samples having poor signal strength out of the total samples collected, was 589/ 51058 for Bharti Airtel, 13582/ 48601 for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), 623/ 50514 for Reliance Jio and 569/ 50572 for Vodafone Idea Limtied (Vi) for Gorakhpur city and nearby areas and 1011/ 15568 for Airtel, 6247/ 13622 for BSNL, 450/ 15645 for Jio and 1163/ 15449 for Vi for Lucknow to Gorakhpur Railway.

Dropped calls, measured as the number of dropped calls out of the number of successfully established calls, were 1/ 453 for Airtel, 22/ 431 for BSNL, 2/ 454 for Jio and 4/ 453 for Vi for Gorakhpur city and nearby areas and 2/ 81 for Airtel, 25/ 78 for BSNL, 4/ 82 for Jio and 2/ 79 for Vi for Lucknow to Gorakhpur railway.

Further, call silence instances, measured as the total number of silence instances observed for more than 3 seconds out of the total calls established, were 18/ 440 for Airtel, NA for BSNL, 6/ 439 for Jio and 18/ 449 for Vi for Gorakhpur city and nearby areas.

Meanwhile, average download speed was observed as 116.48 Mbps for Airtel (5G/4G), 5.54 Mbps for BSNL (4G), 204.44 Mbps for Jio (5G/4G) and 64.50 Mbps for Vi (5G/4G) for Gorakhpur city and nearby areas and 38.73 Mbps for Airtel (5G/4G), 5.53 Mbps for BSNL (4G), 68.38 Mbps for Jio (5G/4G) and 28.51 Mbps for Vi (5G/4G) for Lucknow to Gorakhpur Railway.

Average upload speed was observed as 21.49 Mbps for Airtel (5G/4G), 2.67 Mbps for BSNL (4G), 19.74 Mbps for Jio (5G/4G) and 14.83 Mbps for Vi (5G/4G) for Gorakhpur city and nearby areas and 10.28 Mbps for Airtel (5G/4G), 3.05 Mbps for BSNL (4G), 10.79 Mbps for Jio (5G/4G) and 7.56 Mbps for Vi (5G/4G) for Lucknow to Gorakhpur Railway. Detail of Upload throughput has been provided in the map Annexed.

Details of drive test route and area covered during the IDT is as under: –

  • City – The areas covered in the city drive are Gorakhnath, Jhungiya, Ratanpur, Pipraich, Rampur Buzurg, Bhathat, Mangalpur, Delhi Public School, Gorakhpur, Govindpur, Kaalesar, Belghat, Madapar, Gorakhpur Airport, Taramandal, Ramjanki Nagar and Shahpur etc. in Gorakhpur City and nearby areas.
  • Hotspot – The hot spot locations, capturing stationary user experience, are All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Baba Raghav Das Medical College Gorakhpur, Gorakhnath Temple, Gorakhpur Airport, Gorakhpur Junction, HP Petrol Pump Bus Station Nausad, Maharana Pratap Polytechnic, Mahatma Gandhi Post Graduate College, Mahayogi Gorakhnath University, MMM University of Technology, Orion Mall etc.
  • Walk Test – The walk tests conducted on May 7, 2026, covered Ambedkar Park, Nauka Vihar Ramgarh Tal and Vijay Chowk Market Area capturing mobile network behaviour in crowded pedestrian environments.
  • Railway route – The Railway route conducted on May 4, 2026, covered Lucknow to Gorakhpur passing through Barabanki, Rudauli, Ayodhya, Mankapur, Basti and Khalilabad etc.