TRAI Andaman Mobile Network Quality Assessment
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released findings from an Independent Drive Test (IDT) conducted across South Andaman district and coastal routes from Port Blair to Havelock in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands under West Bengal LSA during August 17-21, 2026. The assessment was designed to verify real-time quality of mobile network services (both voice and data) provided by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) using advanced test handsets and software systems that established live data and voice sessions over 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks.
Test Coverage and Methodology
The drive test covered 259.8 km of city drives, 52.8 km of coastal routes, 10 hotspot locations, and 1.1 km of walk tests, conducted under the supervision of TRAI Regional Office Kolkata. The testing captured key Quality of Service parameters including coverage gaps, call drop rates, call setup success rates, call silence instances, and data download/upload throughput performance.
Key Performance Findings
Coverage gap analysis revealed significant variations among operators: Airtel showed 12.7% poor signal samples (4,734 out of 37,333), BSNL 24.5% (9,228 out of 37,623), RJIL 13.2% (5,123 out of 38,739), and VIL 43.7% (15,927 out of 36,434). Call drop rates were highest for BSNL at 14.2% (38 drops out of 268 established calls), followed by VIL at 3.1% (8/262), RJIL at 3.2% (9/285), and Airtel at 1.9% (5/266).
Data performance showed substantial disparities in download speeds: RJIL achieved the highest average at 77.61 Mbps (5G/4G), followed by Airtel at 67.06 Mbps (5G/4G), VIL at 26.54 Mbps (4G/2G), and BSNL at 7.18 Mbps (4G/2G). Upload performance followed similar patterns with RJIL at 20.28 Mbps, Airtel at 18.01 Mbps, VIL at 10.84 Mbps, and BSNL at 6.13 Mbps.
Call silence instances (silence >3 seconds) were most frequent for RJIL at 12.5% (33 out of 264 calls), BSNL at 11.3% (30/265), Airtel at 8.7% (23/264), and VIL at 9.1% (13/143).
Geographic Coverage Details
The city drive covered South Andaman, Beach Dera, Ferrargunj, Tirur, Mala Puram, Wimberlygunj, Puram, Viper Island RV, and Chidiya Tapu Beach. Hotspot testing included Carvin Cove Beach, Cellur Jail, Chidiyatapu Sunset Point, Haddo Jetty, Havelock Jetty, Head Post Office Port Blair, Jirkatang Check Post, NSCB Island Jetty, Phoenix Bay Jetty, and Pondicherry University Port Blair Campus. Walk tests covered G.B. Pant Hospital and High Court/DC Office areas, while coastal testing spanned from Port Blair (Sri Vijaya Puram) to Havelock (Swaraj Dweep).
The findings have been shared with respective TSPs for necessary corrective actions, and detailed reports are available on the TRAI website at www.trai.gov.in. The observations represent network performance specifically on the tested routes during the assessment period in August 2026.