The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has published findings from its Independent Drive Test conducted from Lanka to Narainpur Railway Bridge along NH-27 & 627 in Assam, covering 189.7 kilometers of highway and 7 hotspot locations during March 10-18, 2026. The assessment evaluated mobile network performance of all major telecom service providers (Airtel, BSNL, RJIL, and VIL) across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G technologies for key Quality of Service parameters including coverage, call drop rate, call setup success rate, and data throughput.

Coverage gap analysis revealed significant signal strength issues, with BSNL showing the poorest performance at 80.5% of samples below minimum specified signal strength (6,410 poor samples out of 7,964 total), followed by VIL at 59.2% (10,218 out of 17,252), Airtel at 20.1% (4,820 out of 23,981), and RJIL at 18.8% (4,453 out of 23,742). Signal strength was considered poor below −110 dBm for 5G & 4G, −90 dBm for 3G, and −85 dBm for 2G.

Call drop rates were highest for VIL at 22.1% (21 drops out of 95 established calls), followed by BSNL at 32.4% (12 out of 37), RJIL at 10.9% (14 out of 128), and Airtel at 7.1% (9 out of 126). Call silence instances (greater than 3 seconds) were most frequent for Airtel with 8 total instances across 7 calls, followed by RJIL with 6 instances across 4 calls, and VIL with 2 instances across 2 calls. BSNL data for call silence was not applicable.

Data performance showed significant variation between declared and measured throughput. For download speeds, RJIL achieved the highest average at 88.21 Mbps (declared: 15 Mbps), followed by Airtel at 66.50 Mbps (declared: 7.48 Mbps), VIL at 16.84 Mbps (declared: 15 Mbps), and BSNL at 4.86 Mbps (declared: 5 Mbps). Upload performance showed Airtel leading at 13.63 Mbps (declared: 1.92 Mbps), followed by VIL at 3.99 Mbps (declared: 8 Mbps), BSNL at 3.10 Mbps (declared: 3 Mbps), and RJIL at 6.61 Mbps (declared: 7 Mbps).

The drive test covered highway sections passing through Bamun Gaon, Dijabora, Mupa, Didaodip, Retzol, and Damchara, with specific hotspot locations at precise coordinates along Lumding-Silchar Road and Lumding Road. The findings have been shared with respective telecom service providers for necessary corrective actions, and detailed reports are available on the TRAI website. The assessment was conducted under the supervision of TRAI Regional Office Kolkata using advanced software systems and multiple test handsets to simulate real-time user experience.