The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released findings from an Independent Drive Test conducted across Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts in Assam during April 2026 to assess real-time quality of mobile network services provided by telecom service providers. The drive test, conducted under the supervision of TRAI Regional Office Kolkata from April 13-17, 2026, covered 374.5 km of city drives, 13 hotspot locations, and 2.2 km of walk tests using multiple advanced test handsets to monitor voice and data sessions across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks.
The assessment evaluated key Quality of Service parameters including coverage gap, call drop rate, call setup success rate, call silence instances, and data download/upload throughput. For coverage gap measured as poor signal strength samples, Airtel showed 4.3% (2,760/63,534 samples), BSNL 21.5% (12,888/59,776 samples), RJIL 7.0% (4,181/59,698 samples), and VIL 20.0% (12,475/62,440 samples).
Dropped call rates varied significantly among providers: Airtel had 0.2% (1/447 calls), BSNL 28.7% (144/501 calls), RJIL 0.4% (2/446 calls), and VIL 2.5% (11/445 calls). Call silence instances exceeding 3 seconds were observed in 1.6% of Airtel calls (7/441), 4.7% of BSNL calls (18/384), 2.3% of RJIL calls (10/432), and 2.3% of VIL calls (9/389).
Data performance showed substantial disparities with RJIL achieving the highest average download speed at 225.08 Mbps (5G/4G), followed by Airtel at 116.52 Mbps (5G/4G), VIL at 27.27 Mbps (5G/4G/2G), and BSNL at 9.81 Mbps (4G/2G). Upload speeds averaged 26.18 Mbps for Airtel, 16.19 Mbps for RJIL, 7.37 Mbps for VIL, and 5.71 Mbps for BSNL.
The testing covered extensive areas including Dibrugarh Airport, multiple colleges and universities, railway stations, hospitals, courts, post offices, and industrial locations such as IOCL Digboi Refinery. Hotspot testing included stationary user experience assessments at 13 key locations while walk tests evaluated network behavior in crowded pedestrian environments at Assam Medical College, New Tinsukia Junction Railway Station, and Tinsukia Civil Hospital.
The findings have been shared with respective telecom service providers for necessary corrective actions, and detailed reports with geographical mapping of performance issues are available on the TRAI website at www.trai.gov.in.