Airtel and Reliance Jio emerged as the top-performing mobile network operators in the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) drive test conducted across Virudhunagar and Tenkasi districts in Tamil Nadu during June 2026.
Airtel delivered the best network coverage, zero dropped calls alongside Jio, and the highest upload speeds, while Reliance Jio achieved the fastest 5G download performance. BSNL and Vodafone Idea trailed the two leading operators across most quality-of-service parameters.
TRAI conducted the drive tests from June 16 to June 18, 2026, covering 273.1 km of city routes and four hotspot locations across Virudhunagar and Tenkasi districts. The assessment included Virudhunagar, Sivakasi, Tenkasi and nearby areas such as Allampatti, Misalur, Koorakikundu, Muthulingapuram, Thiruthangal, Achampudur, Panboli, Shenkottai, Courtallam, Thiraviya Nagar, Veikalipatty, Pavoorchatram, Ayikudy and Elathur. Hotspot testing covered Kaasi Vishwanathar Temple in Tenkasi, Sivakasi Bus Stand, Tenkasi New Bus Stand and Virudhunagar New Bus Stand.
Airtel delivers the strongest network coverage
Airtel recorded the lowest coverage gap with only 456 poor signal samples out of 41,110 observations. Reliance Jio followed with 911 poor signal samples out of 39,132 observations, while Vodafone Idea recorded 1,552 poor signal samples out of 40,918. BSNL registered the highest coverage gap with 3,466 poor signal samples out of 40,362 observations and also experienced 201 no-coverage samples. Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea recorded zero no-coverage samples during the drive test.
Airtel and Jio achieve zero dropped calls
Voice call reliability was strongest for Airtel and Reliance Jio, with both operators recording zero dropped calls. Airtel completed all 367 successfully established calls without any drop, while Reliance Jio recorded zero dropped calls out of 344 established calls. Vodafone Idea experienced two dropped calls out of 376 calls, while BSNL reported five dropped calls out of 331 successfully established calls.
Vodafone Idea records the fewest call silence events
Vodafone Idea delivered the best performance for call silence, reporting only two silence calls out of 366 established calls and four total silence instances. Airtel recorded three silence calls and three total silence instances out of 349 established calls. Reliance Jio registered seven silence calls and eight total silence instances out of 353 calls, while BSNL recorded the weakest performance with 22 silence calls, 32 total silence instances and 332 established calls.
Reliance Jio dominates 5G download speeds
Reliance Jio delivered the fastest average download speed of 275.96 Mbps on its 5G network, significantly outperforming Airtel’s 157.73 Mbps. Vodafone Idea recorded an average download speed of 26.36 Mbps on 4G, while BSNL achieved 6.25 Mbps. The operators had declared typical download throughput of 15.00 Mbps for Reliance Jio, 18.00 Mbps for Airtel, 15.00 Mbps for Vodafone Idea and 5.00 Mbps for BSNL.
Airtel leads upload performance
Airtel achieved the highest average upload speed of 21.94 Mbps, narrowly ahead of Reliance Jio’s 19.06 Mbps. Vodafone Idea recorded 12.46 Mbps, while BSNL delivered 2.98 Mbps. The declared typical upload throughput values were 8.00 Mbps for Airtel, 7.00 Mbps for Reliance Jio, 8.00 Mbps for Vodafone Idea and 3.00 Mbps for BSNL.
The TRAI drive test highlights intense competition between Airtel and Reliance Jio in Tamil Nadu. Airtel delivered the strongest network coverage, zero dropped calls and the fastest upload speeds, while Reliance Jio led 5G download performance with an average speed of 275.96 Mbps. Vodafone Idea demonstrated good voice quality with the fewest call silence events but remained behind the two 5G leaders in data performance. BSNL continued to lag across coverage, voice reliability and mobile broadband speeds.
SHAFANA FAZAL
