The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released findings from its Independent Drive Test (IDT) conducted in Virudnagar and Tenkasi districts of Tamil Nadu LSA from June 16 to 18, 2026. The assessment covered 273.1 kilometers of city drive routes and 4 hotspot locations including Kaasi Vishwanathar Temple, Sivakasi Bus Stand, Tenkasi New Bus Stand, and Virudhunagar New Bus Stand. The testing was supervised by TRAI's Regional Office Hyderabad using multiple advanced test handsets to establish live data and voice sessions across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks of all telecom service providers.
For coverage gap assessment, Airtel showed 456 poor signal strength samples out of 41,110 total samples, BSNL had 3,466 out of 40,362, RJIL recorded 911 out of 39,132, and VIL reported 1,552 out of 40,918. In terms of limited service (no coverage), Airtel had 0 instances, BSNL 201 out of 40,362, RJIL 0 instances, and VIL 2 out of 376 samples.
Voice service performance revealed that Airtel had 0 dropped calls out of 367 established calls, BSNL had 5 dropped calls out of 331, RJIL had 0 out of 344, and VIL had 2 out of 376. Call silence instances (lasting >3 seconds) were recorded as 3 out of 349 calls for Airtel, 32 out of 332 for BSNL, 8 out of 353 for RJIL, and 4 out of 366 for VIL.
Data performance showed significant variation among providers. For download throughput, Airtel achieved 157.73 Mbps (5G/4G), BSNL 6.25 Mbps (3G), RJIL 275.96 Mbps (5G/4G), and VIL 26.36 Mbps (5G/4G/2G). Upload speeds averaged 21.94 Mbps for Airtel, 2.98 Mbps for BSNL, 19.06 Mbps for RJIL, and 12.46 Mbps for VIL.
The detailed drive test reports have been shared with respective telecom service providers for necessary corrective action and are publicly available on TRAI's website (www.trai.gov.in). The authority has provided contact information for clarifications at adv.hydreabad@trai.gov.in or telephone number 040-23000761.