The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has published the findings of its Independent Drive Tests (IDT) conducted across four cities—New Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmednagar, and Hyderabad—between September and October 2024.
According to the Ministry of Communications, the tests, carried out by an empanelled agency, aimed to evaluate the quality of voice and data services offered by cellular mobile service providers in these regions. Major telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel Ltd., BSNL/MTNL, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. (RJIL), and Vodafone Idea Ltd. (VIL), were assessed based on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as voice call setup success rate, call drop rate (DCR), speech quality, data throughput, and other relevant metrics.
New Delhi
The tests in New Delhi covered 635 kilometres within the city and 210 kilometres of metro routes. Voice service results indicated that RJIL had a lower call setup success rate (94.00 per cent) compared to Airtel, MTNL, and VIL, all of which achieved success rates exceeding 97 per cent.
Call setup times varied significantly, with MTNL registering the longest time at 3.27 seconds, while RJIL and Airtel were quicker at 0.73 seconds and 0.82 seconds, respectively. Call drop rates for MTNL were notably higher at 7.23 per cent, while other providers, including RJIL, reported rates below 0.25 per cent. RJIL and VIL also had higher rates of mute calls at 3.01 per cent and 2.34 per cent, respectively, compared to Airtel’s low rate of 0.55 per cent.
The Mean Opinion Score (MOS) for speech quality highlighted better performance for Airtel and VIL, with scores above 4, while RJIL and MTNL scored below 4.
Data performance results in New Delhi showed RJIL leading with an average download speed of 231.82 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 171.44 Mbps. MTNL and VIL, reliant on older 3G and 4G networks, recorded much lower speeds of 3.71 Mbps and 14.45 Mbps, respectively.
For upload speeds, RJIL and Airtel outperformed competitors with speeds of 23.91 Mbps and 34.37 Mbps, respectively, while MTNL and VIL had significantly slower upload rates.
Jaipur
In Jaipur, RJIL and VIL achieved a 100 per cent voice call setup success rate, surpassing Airtel and BSNL, which recorded success rates of 99.90 per cent and 98.92 per cent, respectively. Call setup times were quickest for RJIL and VIL at 0.69 seconds and 0.39 seconds, respectively, while BSNL recorded a slower time of 3.33 seconds.
Call drop rates were generally low, with BSNL showing a higher rate of 2.48 per cent. Mute call rates for RJIL stood at 0.12 per cent, better than VIL and Airtel, which each recorded 0.24 per cent. MOS scores for speech quality were highest for VIL (4.63) and Airtel (4.02), while RJIL scored 3.96 and BSNL recorded the lowest at 2.18.
In data performance, RJIL led with an average download speed of 356.68 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 216.93 Mbps. BSNL and VIL reported much slower download speeds of 3.12 Mbps and 32.40 Mbps, respectively. Upload speeds showed similar trends, with RJIL and Airtel recording 46.17 Mbps and 44.83 Mbps, respectively, while BSNL and VIL trailed significantly.
Hyderabad
In Hyderabad, RJIL achieved a 100 per cent call setup success rate, with Airtel and BSNL slightly lower at 99.85 per cent and 98.92 per cent, respectively. Call setup times were fastest for RJIL at 0.75 seconds, while VIL had the slowest at 11.82 seconds.
Call drop rates for RJIL, Airtel, and VIL were nearly zero, while BSNL had a higher rate of 3.76 per cent.
Mute call rates for RJIL and VIL were 2.08 per cent and 2.06 per cent, respectively, with Airtel recording a lower rate of 1.12 per cent. MOS scores for speech quality were below 4 for all providers, with Airtel scoring 3.98, RJIL 3.81, VIL 3.72, and BSNL the lowest at 2.66.
RJIL led in data performance with an average download speed of 164.19 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 119.88 Mbps. BSNL and VIL lagged significantly, with BSNL recording just 1.28 Mbps for downloads. RJIL also topped upload speeds with 20.43 Mbps.
Ahmednagar
In Ahmednagar, Airtel achieved a 100 per cent call setup success rate, followed by RJIL at 99.70 per cent. VIL and BSNL recorded lower success rates of 88.24 per cent and 94.41 per cent, respectively. Call setup times were quickest for Airtel (0.60 seconds) and RJIL (0.80 seconds), while BSNL and VIL took longer at 2.49 seconds and 1.13 seconds, respectively.
Call drop rates were negligible for Airtel and RJIL, while VIL and BSNL recorded higher rates of 0.31 per cent and 7.11 per cent, respectively. BSNL had the highest mute call rate at 2.77 per cent, with Airtel the lowest at 0.23 per cent.
RJIL led in data performance with an average download speed of 251.13 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 135.59 Mbps. VIL and BSNL reported slower download speeds of 44.20 Mbps and 2.08 Mbps, respectively. In upload speeds, RJIL and Airtel maintained dominance with 31.52 Mbps and 23.06 Mbps, while BSNL and VIL lagged behind.
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