Bhubaneswar: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the findings of its Independent Drive Test (IDT) conducted across Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada districts in Odisha. The assessment evaluated the real-time quality of mobile network services provided by telecom operators to consumers across the three districts.
The drive tests were conducted from April 23 to 25, 2026, covering 446 km of city routes and eight hotspot locations. The exercise was carried out by TRAI’s appointed agency under the supervision of the TRAI Regional Office, Hyderabad.
The IDT assessed the performance of Bharti Airtel, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), and Vodafone Idea Limited. It evaluated key Quality of Service parameters, including coverage, call drop rate, call setup success rate, call setup time, speech quality, call silence, and mobile data download and upload speeds, according to an official statement.
According to the report, RJIL recorded the highest average download speed among all operators. It achieved an average download speed of 186.07 Mbps on its 5G and 4G networks. Bharti Airtel followed with 81.74 Mbps, while Vodafone Idea recorded 17.91 Mbps. BSNL, tested on its 3G network, registered an average download speed of 6.71 Mbps.
For upload performance, Bharti Airtel led with an average upload speed of 18.09 Mbps on its 5G and 4G networks. RJIL recorded 13.46 Mbps, Vodafone Idea 9.63 Mbps, and BSNL 3.54 Mbps.
The report also assessed network coverage across the test routes. It recorded coverage gaps and areas with limited or no coverage for all four telecom operators.
For voice services, the regulator measured dropped calls and call silence instances. During the drive tests, Bharti Airtel recorded 10 dropped calls out of 325 successfully established calls, BSNL 33 out of 308, RJIL 7 out of 406, while Vodafone Idea recorded no dropped calls out of 156 successfully established calls.
The report also noted call silence instances lasting more than three seconds. Bharti Airtel recorded 23 such instances out of 340 established calls, BSNL 14 out of 212, RJIL 14 out of 385, and Vodafone Idea 17 out of 137.
The drive tests covered several towns and cities across the three districts – Chatrapur, Arjyapalli, Gopalpur, Brahmapur, Chikiti, Patrapur, Jarada, Pudamari, Dengausta, Digapahandi, Uppalada, Paralakhemundi, Kurigam, Kashinagar, Birikota, Mohana, Chandragiri, Jeerango, Mahendragada, Luhagudi, Gunupur, Kujendri, Gumuda, Padmapur, Akhusingi and Kenduguda.
Testing was also conducted at eight hotspot locations, including Ganjam Railway Station, Gopalpur Beach, Gunupur Bus Stand, Market Street in Paralakhemundi, Mohana Market, Paralakhemundi Bus Stand, R Udayagiri Market, and Rayagada Market.
TRAI said the purpose of the IDT is to verify the actual quality of mobile network services experienced by consumers and encourage telecom service providers to improve their networks. It added that the findings represent the performance of operators only on the tested routes and at the time the drive tests were conducted.
The findings have been shared with the respective telecom service providers for further necessary action.
