TRAI Satara District Mobile Network Quality Assessment

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released findings from an Independent Drive Test (IDT) conducted across Satara District, Maharashtra LSA from March 10-13, 2026. The assessment evaluated real-time quality of mobile network services (voice and data) provided by four Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) - Airtel, BSNL, RJIL, and VIL - using advanced test handsets and software systems across diverse environments including city areas, highways, hotspots, and pedestrian walkways.

Testing Methodology and Coverage

The drive test covered extensive routes including 535.5 km of city driving, 103.3 km of highway driving from Pune to Satara, 15 hotspot locations capturing stationary user experience, and 9.8 km of walk tests in crowded pedestrian areas. Specific locations tested included Phaltan-Satara Rd, District Collector Office Satara, Karad Bus Stand, Mahabaleshwar Temple, Satara Railway Station, and numerous other urban and rural areas across the district.

Key Performance Metrics Results

City Area Performance:

Coverage Gap analysis showed BSNL had the highest percentage of poor signal strength samples at 29.7% (16,393 out of 55,179 samples), followed by VIL at 7.3% (4,191/57,458), Airtel at 7.1% (4,033/57,154), and RJIL at 6.0% (3,467/57,826). Voice service metrics revealed BSNL had the highest dropped call rate at 7.7% (38 dropped calls out of 493 established), while VIL performed best with only 0.6% dropped calls (3/521). Call silence instances (>3 seconds) were observed across all operators: Airtel (23 instances in 498 calls), BSNL (19 in 415 calls), RJIL (16 in 502 calls), and VIL (13 in 506 calls).

Data performance in city areas showed significant variation: RJIL achieved the highest average download speed at 176.95 Mbps (against declared 15 Mbps), followed by Airtel at 113.79 Mbps (declared 39.68 Mbps), VIL at 46.86 Mbps (declared 15 Mbps), and BSNL at 5.66 Mbps (declared 5 Mbps). Upload speeds followed similar patterns with RJIL at 19.81 Mbps, Airtel at 19.33 Mbps, VIL at 12.92 Mbps, and BSNL at 2.14 Mbps.

Highway Route Performance (Pune to Satara):

Coverage gaps were significantly lower on the highway route, with BSNL showing 8.4% poor signal samples (560/6,660), followed by Airtel at 4.2% (300/7,074), VIL at 2.9% (198/6,944), and RJIL at 2.4% (161/6,747). Dropped calls were minimal with RJIL recording 2 drops out of 35 calls, BSNL and VIL with 1 drop each out of 34 and 35 calls respectively, and Airtel with zero dropped calls.

Data performance on the highway showed RJIL achieving exceptional download speeds of 261.99 Mbps, significantly exceeding its declared 15 Mbps. Airtel recorded 113.12 Mbps (against declared 39.68 Mbps), BSNL 8.73 Mbps (declared 5 Mbps), and VIL 25.88 Mbps (declared 15 Mbps). Upload speeds remained consistent with city performance patterns across all operators.

Technical Parameters and Methodology

The testing used auto-selection mode across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks with signal strength considered poor if below −110 dBm for 5G & 4G, −90 dBm for 3G, and −85 dBm for 2G. The assessment measured multiple QoS parameters including Coverage Gap, Call Setup Success Rate, Drop Call Rate, Call Setup Time, Call Silence Rate, Speech Quality (MOS), Download/Upload Throughput, Latency, Jitter, and Packet Drop Rate.

The findings have been shared with respective TSPs for necessary corrective actions, and detailed reports are available on TRAI's website. The testing was conducted under the supervision of TRAI Regional Office Bengaluru, with the observations representing network performance on specific test routes during the designated testing period.