India’s telecom regulator, TRAI, has unveiled a meticulous analysis of the cellular network performance across five crucial regions of the country, including urban centers, highway stretches, and railway routes. The Independent Drive Tests (IDT), conducted in January 2025, evaluated the quality of voice and data services provided by major telecom operators, shining a spotlight on the reliability, coverage, and overall customer experience in these areas.
Through its appointed agency, TRAI carried out extensive assessments in key locations such as Bengaluru, Jabalpur, Delhi, Vijayawada, and parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana. Covering over 2,800 kilometers cumulatively across cityscapes, highways, and railway routes, the drive tests provided a comprehensive overview of service providers’ performance in real-world conditions. Major players like Bharti Airtel, BSNL/MTNL, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea were evaluated across a range of technologies spanning 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were meticulously assessed, highlighting critical aspects of voice services such as call setup success rate, drop call rate, and speech quality as measured by Mean Opinion Scores (MOS). Additionally, data services were analyzed for throughput speeds, packet drop rates, and video streaming delays, offering insights into user experience for both uplink and downlink operations. Advanced metrics such as latency and jitter further captured the precision and reliability of mobile data networks across the tested regions.
The Bengaluru tests encompassed over 500 kilometers, including city drives and walk tests, while a significant portion of the Madhya Pradesh LSA featured Jabalpur city and a crucial highway stretch between Raipur, Bilaspur, and Raigarh. Delhi’s drive tests spanned over 800 kilometers, assessing urban zones and the busy Sohna to Dausa Highway. Similarly, Andhra Pradesh’s network evaluation focused on Vijayawada and its connections to Hyderabad. Rajasthan and Punjab’s railway assessments added another dimension to the study by examining cellular connectivity during transit.
Among the standout findings were insights into service consistency, with data streaming performances indicating varying levels of latency and throughput across the regions. Drop call rates and speech clarity provided benchmarks for voice service quality, underpinning TRAI’s commitment to enhancing mobile service reliability for millions of users nationwide.
TRAI has emphasized that these observations represent performance snapshots at the time and location of the drive tests. They offer critical feedback for telecom service providers to address shortcomings and bolster their network capabilities. TRAI’s engagement with major players aims to refine operational standards, ensuring a seamless connectivity experience for India’s burgeoning mobile user base.
The results align closely with India’s ambitious telecommunications growth strategy, marking another step towards robust digital infrastructure capable of supporting the demands of the digital age. With ongoing advancements in 5G deployment and rising mobile internet usage, these drive tests are pivotal in guiding policy and operational improvements.
The full report, including detailed findings for each region, is available on TRAI’s official website for further scrutiny and analysis. TRAI remains steadfast in its mission to elevate service quality across the nation, empowering both urban and rural communities with reliable and efficient telecommunications.
