The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released findings from its Independent Drive Test conducted across New Delhi and Central Delhi routes under Delhi LSA during August 10-14, 2026. The assessment aimed to verify real-time quality of mobile network services (both voice and data) provided by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) by measuring key Quality of Service parameters including coverage, call drop rate, call setup success rate, and data download/upload throughput.

Test Methodology and Scope

The drive test covered 322.9 km of city routes, 11 hotspot locations, and 2.2 km of walk tests, supervised by TRAI's Regional Office Delhi. Testing was conducted using multiple advanced test handsets with SIM cards from all TSPs across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks. The geographical coverage included Rose Garden, Sarai Kale Khan, IP Estate, Rajghat, Civil Lines, Kashmere Gate, Daryaganj, Supreme Court, JLN Stadium, Jangpura, Lajpat Nagar, Okhla NSIC, Hauz Khas, Green Park, Jor Bagh, Khan Market, India Gate, Janpath, New Delhi, Tis Hazari, Sarai Rohilla, Anand Parbat, Moti Nagar, Rajinder Nagar, Chanakyapuri, Moti Bagh, and Sarojini Nagar.

Performance Metrics

Coverage gap analysis revealed significant disparities among providers: Airtel showed 1.64% poor signal samples (1,594 out of 97,412), MTNL demonstrated the highest coverage issues with 64.8% poor signal samples (59,106 out of 91,219), RJIL had 1.69% poor signal samples (1,610 out of 95,084), and VIL showed 1.01% poor signal samples (983 out of 97,747).

Call drop performance varied considerably: Airtel had 0 dropped calls out of 868 established calls, MTNL experienced 123 dropped calls out of 794 established calls (15.5% drop rate), RJIL had 2 dropped calls out of 872 established calls, and VIL had 1 dropped call out of 877 established calls.

Call silence instances (silence >3 seconds) were observed: Airtel had 3 instances out of 844 calls, RJIL had 46 instances out of 835 calls, and VIL had 11 instances out of 845 calls. MTNL data for this parameter was not reported.

Data download throughput performance showed RJIL leading with 287.91 Mbps on 5G, followed by Airtel at 156.52 Mbps on 5G, VIL at 39.57 Mbps on 5G, and MTNL at 4.34 Mbps on 3G. Upload throughput results were: VIL at 25.41 Mbps on 5G, Airtel at 23.94 Mbps on 5G, RJIL at 23.31 Mbps on 5G, and MTNL at 1.17 Mbps on 3G.

Additional Testing Environments

Hotspot testing covered 11 locations including Agrasen Ki Baoli, GB Pant Hospital, Hanuman Mandir Connaught Place, Khan Market, LNJP Hospital Lok Kalyan Marg, Maulana Azad Medical College, Old Delhi Railway Station, Patiala House Court, Red Fort, Sadar Bazar, and The British School Chanakyapuri. A specialized walk test was conducted on August 14, 2026, at Bhagirath Palace Electronic Market to assess network behavior in crowded pedestrian environments.

The findings have been shared with respective TSPs for necessary corrective actions, and detailed reports are available on TRAI's website at www.trai.gov.in. For clarifications, stakeholders can contact TRAI at adv.ca@trai.gov.in or the Delhi Regional Office at +91-11-20907772.