Reliance Jio emerged as the strongest mobile network for data speed, coverage and voice reliability on the Gandhidham–Santhalpur section of National Highway 27 (NH-27) in Gujarat, according to drive test conducted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in July 2026.
The TRAI test covered 149.1 km of NH-27 on July 1, 2026, assessing the mobile network performance of Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea (Vi) and BSNL. The regulator measured network coverage, dropped calls, call-silence instances, and mobile download and upload speeds across available 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks.
The results show a substantial performance gap between operators, particularly in mobile data speeds and network coverage.
Jio Records Fastest Download Speed at 223.70 Mbps
Reliance Jio delivered an average mobile download speed of 223.70 Mbps, the highest among the four operators tested on the NH-27 route.
Airtel ranked second with downloads speed of 146.35 Mbps. Vodafone Idea delivered 23.76 Mbps, while BSNL recorded the lowest speed at 20.23 Mbps.
Jio’s download speed was about 53 percent faster than Airtel, more than 9 times Vi’s speed, and approximately 11 times BSNL’s speed during the drive test.
The difference between the two leading networks and the other operators is significant. Jio and Airtel benefited from networks supporting up to 5G, although Vi was also tested in auto-selection mode supporting up to 5G.
Jio Also Leads Mobile Upload Speed
Competition was considerably closer in upload performance.
Jio recorded the highest average upload speed at 22.18 Mbps, narrowly ahead of Airtel at 21.00 Mbps.
Vodafone Idea achieved 13.00 Mbps, while BSNL recorded 6.35 Mbps.
TRAI also compared measured performance against the typical speeds declared by operators. Jio had declared typical download and upload speeds of 15 Mbps and 7 Mbps, respectively, while its measured averages reached 223.70 Mbps and 22.18 Mbps.
Airtel’s declared typical speeds were 18 Mbps download and 8 Mbps upload, compared with measured speeds of 146.35 Mbps and 21 Mbps.
Vi declared 15 Mbps download and 8 Mbps upload, while BSNL declared 5 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.
Jio Has Lowest Coverage Gap on NH-27
Coverage was another area where Jio recorded a strong result.
TRAI collected 17,324 samples for Jio, of which only 225 samples showed poor signal strength. This represents a poor-signal incidence of approximately 1.3 percent.
Airtel recorded 1,253 poor-signal samples out of 17,251, equivalent to around 7.3 percent.
Vodafone Idea had 1,239 poor-signal samples from 17,241, or about 7.2 percent.
BSNL recorded the weakest coverage performance. Of its 14,269 samples, 2,246, or approximately 15.7 percent, showed poor signal strength.
More significantly, BSNL recorded 1,517 samples with limited service/no coverage. Airtel, Jio and Vi recorded zero such samples during the test.
NH-27 Coverage Performance
| Operator | Total samples | Poor signal | Poor-signal share | No coverage/limited service |
| Jio | 17,324 | 225 | 1.3% | 0 |
| Vi | 17,241 | 1,239 | 7.2% | 0 |
| Airtel | 17,251 | 1,253 | 7.3% | 0 |
| BSNL | 14,269 | 2,246 | 15.7% | 1,517 |
The figures indicate that Jio had by far the lowest incidence of weak signal along the tested highway section.
Airtel and Jio Record Zero Dropped Calls
Voice-call reliability produced another clear distinction among the operators.
Airtel successfully established 85 calls and recorded zero dropped calls. Jio established 86 calls with zero drops.
Vodafone Idea recorded one dropped call from 86 successfully established calls, translating into a drop rate of around 1.2 percent.
BSNL recorded 11 dropped calls from 76 successfully established calls, equivalent to approximately 14.5 percent.
This puts Airtel and Jio jointly at the top for the dropped-call metric during the specific TRAI drive test.
Jio Records Fewest Call-Silence Instances
TRAI also assessed instances where users experienced silence lasting more than three seconds during calls.
Jio recorded only one silence instance across 82 established calls.
Airtel recorded seven silence instances across 86 calls, while Vodafone Idea registered five instances across 83 calls. BSNL recorded nine silence instances across 67 established calls.
The results again put Jio ahead on this particular voice-quality indicator.
What TRAI’s Gujarat NH-27 Test Shows
The July 2026 drive test provides a snapshot of actual mobile network conditions experienced along the 149.1-km Gandhidham–Santhalpur NH-27 route.
Among the four operators, Reliance Jio delivered the fastest average download speed at 223.70 Mbps, fastest upload speed at 22.18 Mbps, lowest poor-signal incidence at about 1.3 percent, zero dropped calls and just one call-silence instance.
Airtel was the closest competitor, delivering 146.35 Mbps download and 21 Mbps upload speeds, while also recording zero dropped calls.
Vodafone Idea’s 23.76 Mbps download speed was substantially behind Jio and Airtel, although it maintained continuous service across the tested samples and recorded only one dropped call.
BSNL showed the biggest performance challenges on the route, with 20.23 Mbps average download speed, 2,246 poor-signal samples, 1,517 limited-service/no-coverage samples and 11 dropped calls.
TRAI cautions that Independent Drive Test findings represent operator performance only in the tested area and at the date and time of testing. Nevertheless, the Gujarat NH-27 results provide consumers and operators with a useful real-world benchmark of mobile network coverage, voice reliability and 4G/5G data performance.
BABURAJAN KIZHAKEDATH